Vitrification of cesium-loaded crystalline silicotitanate (CST) in the shielded cells melter

Through the Tanks Focus Area, the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory participated in a joint project in which supernate waste from the Melton Valley Storage Tanks at Oak Ridge was treated by passage through a crystalline silicotitanate (CST) ion exchange column. CST was designed to sorb Cs- 137, Sr-90 and several other radionuclides from highly alkaline solutions containing large quantities of sodium.2 After demonstrating the effectiveness of CST as an ion exchange medium, ORNL shipped some of the loaded sorbent to SRTC where it was mixed with glass formers and processed in a joule-heated melter within the SRTC Shielded Cells. This report details the results of the melter run, along with the preparations that were required to complete the campaign