Abstract
For safety and economy reasons, hazardous waste including radioactive waste is desired to be converted into stable waste forms with a maximum volume reduction. High temperature melting technology using a plasma torch system can effectively treat even the non-flammable waste as desired. By far, one of the most difficult process for melting the non-flammable waste is a tapping of melts because the melting point of a residual slag in the tapping hole is high and because the viscosity of the melt increases sharply when tapping out. In case of a stationary furnace with a slant tapping port on the side of furnace, a certain amount of melts is left in the tapping hole after tapping out. Because of this, at every end of a melting cycle, the tapping hole needs to be opened by tapping device. The developed tapping device of melts based on both a guide electrode and auxiliary electrode is adequate for the application to discharge of melts except that the consumption of the guide electrode is somewhat faster than expected. Melt is collected in the water cooled vessel.
