Method for solidification of radioactive and other hazardous waste

Abstract

Solidification of liquid radioactive waste, and other hazardous wastes, is accomplished by the method of the invention by incorporating the waste into a porous glass crystalline molded block. The porous block is first loaded with the liquid waste and then dehydrated and exposed to thermal treatment at 50-1,000° C. The porous glass crystalline molded block consists of glass crystalline hollow microspheres separated from fly ash (cenospheres), resulting from incineration of fossil plant coals. In a preferred embodiment, the porous glass crystalline blocks are formed from perforated cenospheres of grain size −400+50, wherein the selected cenospheres are consolidated into the porous molded block with a binder, such as liquid silicate glass. The porous blocks are then subjected to repeated cycles of saturating with liquid waste, and drying, and after the last cycle the blocks are subjected to calcination to transform the dried salts to more stable oxides. Radioactive liquid waste can be further stabilized in the porous blocks by coating the internal surface of the block with metal oxides prior to adding the liquid waste, and by coating the outside of the block with a low-melting glass or a ceramic after the waste is loaded into the block.