Perma-Fix, Kurion to partner in nuclear waste treatment

Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (Atlanta, GA) has formed a partnership with Kurion, Inc. (Irvine, CA) under which Perma-Fix will pursue the deployment of Kurion’s GeoMelt In-Container Vitrification (ICV) process at its fixed facilities. The GeoMelt ICV process converts certain components of nuclear waste into glass through vitrification in a cost-effective, modular, robust, and easily deployable in-container and low-cost application, according to Perma-Fix. The process is ideal for tank, mixed, debris-laden, or pre-containerized waste streams with varying or challenging chemistries and densities. Targeted waste streams will include Class B and C nuclear power plant primary or radioactive waste resins, filters, and sludges, as well as sealed sources and certain low-activity wastes generated at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. “This collaboration will allow us to treat a variety of highly complex nuclear waste streams that we believe currently have no other commercially available treatment and disposal options,” said Louis Centofanti, Perma-Fix’s chairman and CEO.