Millimeter Wave Diagnostics for Vitrification Plants

Millimeter-wave (MMW) techniques and technologies provide robust new diagnostic tools for glass melt measurements that are addressing needs for vitrification of high level and low activity nuclear wastes in glass media at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) in Savannah River and the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) under construction at Hanford. Over the past seven years, we have demonstrated real-time measurement of several glass melt parameters, e.g., viscosity, cold-cap temperature, foaming, and pouring. An overview of MMW diagnostics for vitrification plants is presented.