The operating costs for vitrifying radioactive waste is a major contributor to the overall project cost and increasing the melter production rate can significantly reduce costs. Increasing the rate at which the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) can convert Low Activity Waste (LAW) and High Level Waste (HLW) into glass will reduce the total waste processing time and will thus lower the operating costs for that project. Each year of operation costs approximately $500 million so that increasing the melter throughput by a factor of 2 could potentially save several billion dollars. This paper describes the next generation melter design activities underway to develop the Advanced Joule Heated melter technology for implementation at the WTP for the purpose of increasing the waste processing rate and glass waste loading. EnergySolutions (ES) and the Vitreous State Laboratory (VSL) at the Catholic University of America, the original designers of the WTP vitrification melters, have been contracted to develop their Advanced Joule Heated Melter Technology for potential use as Next Generation Melters (NGM) at the WTP. The WTP is currently designed to produce waste glass at rates of 30 metric tons per day (MT/d) and 6 MT/d, for the LAW and HLW plants, respectively. The goal for the NGM project is to achieve glass production rates of at least 42 MT/d and 8 MT/d, for LAW and HLW, respectively. ES, in collaboration with their exclusive teaming partner the VSL, are designing LAW and HLW NGMs per a program that maximizes the performance of the melters at a minimum risk. The first stage of the design, referred to as the basic NGM, will utilize three technologies that have previously demonstrated during large scale melter testing to raise process rates. These combined technologies are predicted to increase the processing rates to 90 MT/d and 18 MT/d, for LAW and HLW facilities, respectively. The second phase of the NGM design is producing enhancements to the basic NGM design that can be added to further increase the processing rate. These enhancements are designed as “add-ons” because while they are promising new technologies they have not been demonstrated at the same scale as the basic
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