(99d) Design, Fabrication and Operation of a Distillation System to Recycle Nuclear Waste

When dealing with nuclear waste, there are a large number of important factors that must be addressed. Many of these are similar to those that should be part of most commercial distillation systems, but differ in degree to which they must be addressed. These start at the early design stage, gathering of process information via pilot plant testing, system design, fabrication, and system operation. Quality control and tracking of all stages of design and construction are a standard requirement.

 Some interesting factors that are not normally part of a typical system designs include operating a continuous distillation system on an 8 hours per day schedule, criticality concerns, size constraints due to location of the distillation system in an existing room with thick, shielded concrete walls,  materials of construction due to the corrosive mixtures of materials to be processed, and reliability concerns since repair and part replacement become VERY challenging in an high radiation environment.