Catholic University’s Vitreous State Laboratory secured the first part of a $36 million contract to turn nuclear waste into glass through a process called vitrification, making the waste easier and safer to store.
The project involves research and development to help speed up the vitrification process at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River site. The site contains about 36 million gallons of nuclear waste stored in 49 underground tanks. Some tanks date back as far as the Manhattan Project, according to the DOE Web site.
Catholic University has assumed a sub-contractor role and, according to the university, Catholic will team with EnergySolutions Inc. and research ways to increase the processing rate of the nuclear waste. It will also work to increase the amount of nuclear waste that could be packed into the glass.
Converting the nuclear waste into glass will also save valuable tax money that is now spent on repairing and maintaining the aging storage tanks, according to The Washington Post.
Vitrification makes nuclear waste less likely to leak into the environment but the glass will still emit dangerous and toxic radiation waves.
According to the public records posted by the DOE, field testing this process at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory cost over $20 million. The testing was done on a scale much smaller than that of the Savannah River Site.
—ERIK LEUBBERS
