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Method and apparatus for ionizing all the elements in a complex substance such as radioactive waste and separating some of the elements from the other elements    
United States Patent5681434   
Link to this pagehttp://www.wikipatents.com/5681434.html
Inventor(s)Eastlund; Bernard John (6615 Chancellor Dr., Spring, TX 77379)
AbstractThis invention provides methods and apparatus for ionizing all the elements in a complex substance such as radioactive waste and for separation of some of the elements from the other elements. One principal methods utilizes plasma confinement by toroidal magnetic fields as a gate to regulate when and where specific elements are collected. While the plasma is confined, some of the species are removed by repeatedly cycling all of the species between the plasma and the deposition stages lining the walls, whereby some species preferentially accumulate on the deposition stages. The other species are then diverted into an additional containment vessel for collection or additional separations. The apparatus is a large volume plasma processor with multiple containment vessels. The invention provides for the characterization of waste material, and for its separation all within one serf contained vacuum environment. Other applications include remediation of chemical toxic wastes and chemical and germ warfare weapons.
   














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Drawing from US Patent 5681434
Method and apparatus for ionizing all the elements in a complex

     substance such as radioactive waste and separating some of the elements

     from the other elements - US Patent 5681434 Drawing
Method and apparatus for ionizing all the elements in a complex substance such as radioactive waste and separating some of the elements from the other elements
Inventor     Eastlund; Bernard John (6615 Chancellor Dr., Spring, TX 77379)
Owner/Assignee    
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Publication Date     October 28, 1997
Application Number     08/612,240
PAIR File History     Application Data   Transaction History
Image File Wrapper   Patent Term   Fees
Litigation
Filing Date     March 7, 1996
US Classification     204/156 75/10.2 250/282 250/298 422/186.04 422/906 588/311 588/401 588/405 588/406 588/408 588/409 588/410
Int'l Classification     C25B 005/00
Examiner     Gorgos; Kathryn L.
Assistant Examiner     Mayekar; Kishor
Attorney/Law Firm    
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USPTO Field of Search     204/164 204/156 588/237 250/282 250/298 75/10.2 422/186.04 422/906
Patent Tags     ionizing all elements complex substance such radioactive waste separating some elements other elements
   
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250/290
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What is claimed is:

1. A method of separating from each other a portion of species from the other species in a feedstock material comprising:

a. generating a product plasma that is composed principally of species of elements of the feedstock material by injecting said feedstock material into a volume plasma processor equipped with a toroidal containment vessel and with at least one additional containment vessel having an exhaust pipe, wherein said product plasma has a center and a surface,

b. maintaining said product plasma spaced from walls said toroidal containment vessel by means of magnetic fields for a period of time over which the species of elements of said feedstock material in the center of the plasma diffuse to the surface of the plasma,

c. separating a first portion of the species from the other species by repeatedly cycling all the species of the product plasma between said plasma surface and deposition stage lining the toroidal containment vessel walls such that a portion of species of elements which have high ionization probability, accumulate on said deposition stages, while other species, which have a lower ionization probability accumulate and remain in said product plasma,

d. diverting said accumulated and remained product plasma, into said additional containment vessel at the end of the period of time over which the species of elements of the feedstock material from said center of the plasma diffuse to the plasma surface,

e. causing the diverted plasma to move for an additional period of time along parallel magnetic fields of said additional containment vessel, such that species in the moved diverted plasma cools, recombines and lands on deposition stages lining the walls of said additional containment vessel,

f. collecting landed species on deposition stages of said additional containment vessel and on louvers terminating said exhaust pipe and,

g. removing from deposition stages of both vessels and louvers the separated and collected species.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the separating of the species from each other is based on their differences in sputtering rates with different materials, further comprising heating said deposition stages with heating elements or cooling said deposition stages with cooling coils.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the deposition stages lining said toroidal containment vessel are maintained at a temperature of 800.degree. C. to vaporize alkali metals.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the separation of the species from each other is based on their differences in sputtering rates with different materials, further comprising coating the deposition stages with materials that are chosen with sputtering coefficients that are higher than specific species of species of elements such that those species collect in said remainder product plasma.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the separating of the species from each other is based on their differences in chemisorption and physisorption with different materials, further comprising coating the deposition stages with materials selected to attach specific species of species of elements more than others and accumulate those species so that they do not remain in said remainder product plasma.

6. The method of claim 1 where the species of elements in said diverted plasma cool and recombine as they move along the parallel magnetic fields of said additional containment vessel and the species are collected without further separations on cooled deposition stages.

7. The method of claim 6 where said deposition stages in said additional containment vessel are cooled to at least room temperature to collect species of alkali metals.

8. The method or claim 6 where said cooled louvers in the exhaust pipes are cooled to cryogenic temperatures to collect species of oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen.

9. The method of claim 1 where the deposition stages are coated with glass, quartz, sapphire, ceramics, or composites.

10. A method of separating from each other a portion of species from the other species in a feedstock material comprising:

a. generating a product plasma that is composed principally of species of elements of the feedstock material by injecting said feedstock material into a volume plasma processor equipped with a toroidal containment vessel and with at least one additional containment vessel having an exhaust pipe with cooled louvers, wherein said product plasma has a surface,

b. diverting said product plasma containing species of the feedstock into said additional containment vessel before any repeated cycling of the species of said product plasma between the plasma surface and the deposition stages lining the toroidal containment vessel,

c. causing the diverted product plasma to move along parallel magnetic fields of said additional containment vessel,

d. controlling said diverted product plasma to a temperature range from about 10,000.degree. C. to about 50,000.degree. C. by at least one means of radiation cooling to lower the temperature and of raising the temperature with electromagnetic wave heaters,

e. separating from the diverted plasma some of the species of elements from each other on the basis of their differences in ionization potential, such that species with ionization potentials below about 8 ev are maintained in an ionized state and continue to be confined by said parallel magnetic fields, while species with ionization potential above about 8 ev recombine and lands on deposition stages lining wall of said additional containment vessel or enter said exhaust pipe and strike said cooled louvers in said exhaust pipe,

f. collecting landed species on deposition stages of said additional containment vessel and on louvers terminating said exhaust pipe, and

g. removing from the deposition stages and louvers the separated collected species.

11. The method of claim 10 where the electromagnetic wave heaters maintain the temperature of said product plasma between 1 and 50 ev.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the separating of the species from each other is based on their differences in charge exchange cross sections with different atomic and molecular species comprising directing beams of said atomic and molecular species through said product plasma to cause specific species to become neutral and unconfined by the magnetic field and to strike the deposition stages in the proximity of the atomic or molecular beam.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the separating of the species from each other is based on their different charge to mass ratios comprising using rf ponderomotive force applicators to stop parallel motion of specific species that strike the deposition stages in a proximity of the rf ponderomotive force applicator.

14. The method of claim 13 where the rf ponderomotive force applicator is an antenna.

15. A method of separating from each other a portion of species from the other species in feedstock material comprising:

a. generating a product plasma that is composed principally of species of elements of the feedstock material by injecting said feedstock material into a volume plasma processor equipped with a toroidal containment vessel and with more than one additional containment vessel, having an exhaust pipe with louvers equipped with means to separate specific species of elements from each other, wherein said product plasma has a center and a surface,

b. maintaining most of said product plasma separated from said walls of said said toroidal containment vessel by magnetic fields while identifying the species of elements and their location in the product plasma by means of a spectrometer,

c. choosing one of said additional containment vessels for collecting the specific species identified in an edge region of the plasma, then,

d. diverting a portion of said product plasma in the edge region into at least one said additional containment vessel equipped to separate the species identified in the edge region,

e. causing the diverted product plasma to move along said magnetic fields of the chosen said additional containment vessel,

f. separating species in the diverted product plasma from the other species as the plasma moves along said magnetic fields of said additional containment vessel wherein the separating of the species from each other is based on their different ionization potentials, interactions, rf ponderomotive forces, or charge exchange neutralization,

g. collecting said other species of said product plasma that lands on deposition stages lining walls of said additional containment vessel, and on said louvers terminating said exhaust pipes, and

h. removing from the deposition stages and louvers separated collected species.

16. The method of claim 15 where the portion of said product plasma surface is diverted into said additional containment vessel at any time between 1 millisecond and the time over which species of elements of said feedstock material in the center of the plasma diffuse to the surface of the plasma.

17. The method of claim 15 where the feedstock material is inhomogeneous radioactive waste and where the spectrometer identifies regions of the product plasma initially containing levels of radioactive species content.

18. The method of claim 15 where the volume plasma processor includes at least two additional confinement vessels and when the product plasma has high concentrations of radionuclides, further comprising diverting the product plasma into one of said additional confinement vessels and when the product plasma has low concentrations of radionuclides, diverting said product plasma into the other containment vessel.

19. Apparatus which is a large volume plasma processor for separating from each other a portion of species from the other species in a feedstock material comprising:

a. a toroidal containment vessel with walls,

b. a gas inlet, to supply a generating gas,

c. means to create ionization in the generating gas,

d. means for generating a magnetic field substantially parallel to the walls of said toroidal containment vessel and substantially filling said toroidal containment vessel,

e. means for generating a toroidal current which is substantially parallel to said toroidal magnetic field and generates a magnetic field, a poloidal field, perpendicular to the toroidal field,

f. means for heating the generating gas to produce a high temperature, low density ionized gas plasma with a temperature of at least 500,000.degree. C.,

g. means for controlling a space between said high temperature, low density ionized gas plasma and the walls of the containment vessel,

h. means for injecting a portion of the feedstock material at a velocity into said high temperature, low density ionized gas plasma, which is identified as a product plasma,

i. means for rapidly increasing the heating means to overcome radiation losses,

j. means for rapidly stabilizing said product plasma, to initially maintain the space between the plasma anti the containment vessel walls,

k. means for moving a portion of said product plasma, across said space between the plasma and the containment vessel walls to deposit the ionized and unionized species of elements in the feedstock material on deposition stages lining the walls of the containment vessel,

l. means for modifying the magnetic field by the addition of diverting magnetic fields to move the plasma into more than one additional containment vessels lined with deposition stages, and

m means for removing the deposited species from deposition stages.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 where the other containment vessel is an elongated evacuated container and is surrounded by magnetic field generating coils which produce magnetic fields that are parallel to the long axis or said elongated evacuated container and substantially guide the diverted said product plasma species of the elements of the feedstock material said product plasma the walls of said elongated evacuated container.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 where the additional containment vessels are equipped with means for heating the plasma with electromagnetic wave heaters, with means for stopping parallel motion of some species with rf ponderomotive force applicators, with molecular beam projectors means and with bead projectors means.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the toroidal containment vessel has a major radius of between 60 cm and 300 cm and a minor radius of between 20 cm and 200 cm.
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DESCRIPTION

1. Technical Field

This invention relates to a plasma processor which is a species separation device that converts substances included in toxic materials such as nuclear wastes or chemical warfare agents into a fully ionized plasma and separates from each other a portion of species of elements from the other species of elements and collects them on deposition stages.

2. Background Art

High level nuclear waste tank remediation is a severe problem because hundreds of storage tanks located at Hanford, and at Savannah River have been used to process and store radioactive and mixed waste generated from weapons material production. The waste takes several forms including sludge, solids and liquids. Complex chemicals include nitrate and nitrate salts, hydrated metal oxides, phosphate precipitate and ferrocyanides. The radioactive species include the actenides and fission fragments. This material is not only difficult to handle, it is difficult to characterize initially before remediation efforts can even begin. Retrieval and conveyance to processing apparatus is a problem. Separation of species of elements one from the other is a complex task and one in which existing chemical and high temperature plasma torch based technologies can create additional problems due to contamination and emissions associated with the process streams. See for example, "Radioactive Waste Tank Remidiation Focus Area", Technology Summary, DOE Office of Environmental Management, Jun., 1995.

Arc plasma torches have been applied to low level nuclear wastes derived from maintenance work at nuclear power stations, hospitals and Research and Development facilities. These plasma torch systems include filters to scrub radionuclides and particulates containing radionuclides and are subject to upsets that can require extensive cleaning and refurbishing. The problem arises partly because plasma torches are unable to completely convert solids into gaseous ionized states. See for example, "Plasma Technology for Rapid Oxidation, Melting, and Vitrification of Low/Medium Level Radioactive Waste", W. Hoffelner et al, Nuclear Engineering International, Oct., 1992.

Plasma torches operate from 5,000 to about 15,000 degrees Celsius and pressures of 100 torr to 3000 torr or more. For a more detailed understanding of the inability of the technology of commercial plasma torches to completely vaporize and ionize solids see "Plasma Spray Coatings", Herman, Scientific American, Sept. 1988 and "A Quarter of a Century of Plasma Spraying", Zaat, in "Annual Review of Materials Science," Huggins, Bube and Vermilyea, Annual Reviews Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., Vol. 13, 1988.

Westinghouse has been a prime leader in applying plasma torches to toxic wastes. See for example, "Putting a Torch to Toxic Wastes", by John Holusha, New York Times. Jun. 21, 1989. Again, these plasma torch systems include filters to scrub particulates and are subject to upsets that can require extensive cleaning and refurbishing.

A theoretical concept described as "The Fusion Torch" has been proposed by the inventor to use the high energy flux plasmas typical of controlled fusion research devices as a "universal solvent" to vaporize, dissociate and ionize any substance. See for example, "The Fusion Torch-Closing the Cycle From Use to ReUse", by Bernard J. Eastlund and William C. Gough, WASH-1132, U.S.A. E. C., May 15, 1969 and "Near Term Recycling Options Using Fusion-Grade Plasmas", Eastlund and Gough, Fusion Technology, December, 1991. These papers, and other papers on the "Fusion Torch" cited in these references were in general terms, did not address high atomic number radiation loss containment problems and did not specify how to build such devices for separation purposes.

Boeing Company, Seattle, Wash. initiated studies on separation of one species, aluminum, from other species, oxygen and silicon in aluminum ore as a result of a lecture given at Boeing Research Labs by Bernard J. Eastlund in 1970, and received a patent entitled "Method and Apparatus for Reducing Matter to Constituent Elements and Separating One of the Elements from the Other Elements," by James E. Drummond, U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,975, Mar. 9, 1976. This method was not pursued because the apparatus could not reliably convert all the solid particulates into ionized gas plasma and because the density was too high for separations to occur without interference from multiple collisions.

TRW Inc. of Redondo Beach, Calif. received three patents relating to the separation of one species of isotopes of elements from other species of isotopes of elements. These patents are "Separation of Isotopes by Time of Flight", John Dawson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,761, Nov. 22, 1977; "Isotope Separation by Magnetic Fields", John Dawson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,677; and "Isotope Separation by Ion Waves", U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,893, by John Dawson, Jan. 3, 1978. These devices were built and tested but were found to be limited by plasma instabilities that debated efforts to collect the separated species efficiently. Also, the devices were limited to working with gaseous feed materials and could not utilize solids.

For a brief description of controlled fusion research devices, see "Fusion Research", Dolan, Pergamon Press, New York, N.Y., 1982. This, and other similar articles and books on fusion research are written with emphasis on the physics necessary to achieve electricity producing controlled fusion devices and do not emphasize specific descriptions of how to build such devices for process applications

To operate properly, the Tokamak research devices that have been built need to prevent high atomic number atoms, such as atoms of tungsten, molybdenum and iron from sputtering from containment vessel walls and radiating away the power applied to heat the plasma. See, "The Prospects of Fusion Power", W. C. Gough and B. J. Eastlund, Scientific American, Feb. 1971, and "Fusion", Furth, Scientific American, Sept. 1995. Plasma processing techniques using gas phase feedstock have been used to clean the vacuum chamber walls and to deposit coatings of low atomic number (Z) materials such as boron, carbon, lithium and silicon on all parts exposed to the high temperature plasmas produced in such devices. For example, see "Physics of Plasma-Wall Interactions in Controlled Fusion", Post et al, NATO ASI Series, Series B: Physics Vol. 131, Plenum Press, N.Y., 1984.

Solid materials injected into the high energy flux research plasmas have been used as feedstock for similarly coating the walls. Wall coatings have been successfully achieved with pellets of low atomic number elements such as lithium, lithium deuteride, boron and carbon. The carbon pellets have been difficult to use because they can occasionally cause the high energy flux research plasmas to become unstable and extinguish. See for example, "Wall Conditioning Experiments on TFTR Using Impurity Pellet Injection", Strachan et al, Journal of Nuclear Materials 217, 145-153, 1994. Pellets of tungsten, molybdenum and other high Z materials immediately extinguish the plasmas in Tokamak devices as presently built and operated. For descriptions of how to build a Tokamak device, see "The Texas Experimental Tokamak, A Fusion Plasma Research Facility", Proposal to The Energy Research and Development Administration, by The Fusion Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin, Jun., 1976.

A paper has appeared in which a Tokamak fusion research device was suggested as a means of pyrolysis of toxic wastes, but, like "The Fusion Torch", this work did not address key issues of how to construct a device that could handle disruptions caused by toxic materials with high Z content. See "Pyrolysis in Tokamak Plasmas", McNeil, Industrial Applications of Plasma Physics, ISPP-13, edited by Bonizzoni, Hooke and Sindoni, SIF, Bologna, 1993.

Thus, present technologies for remediation of toxic or radioactive wastes are limited by problems associated with the complexity and inhomogeneity of the substances and by contamination and emissions associated with process streams, especially as a consequence of malfunctions. The waste tanks at Hanford are so dangerous and difficult to deal with, that it is a major problem to identify or characterize the waste materials in sufficient detail to facilitate conventional remediation steps. The plasma torch approaches to date are limited in ability to handle substances with high atomic numbers.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

This invention has been made in order to solve problems associated with remediation of toxic or radioactive waste tanks. In particular, it provides a means of using the high temperature plasma of a large volume plasma processor to ionize any feedstock material such as radioactive wastes and for separation of some of the elements from the other elements. The invention allows real time characterization of the elemental constituants of the waste, separates the most dangerous radioactive elements from the benign elements of the waste, and minimizes residual contaminant release by carrying out all processing within a closed vacuum environment. The principal object of this invention is to provide three principal novel methods of separating from each other a portion of species from the other species in any feedstock material, such as radioactive wastes. For further description of the Large Volume Plasma Processor see the U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,880 entitled "Method and Apparatus for a Large Volume Plasma Processor That Can Ionize Any Material" by Bernard John Eastlund, submitted simultaneously with this patent application.

One principal method in accordance with this invention is to utilize a large volume plasma processor to separate some of the elements from the other elements in a series of seven steps. The first step is to generate a product plasma that is composed principally of the ionized and unionized species of elements of the feedstock material by means of injecting the feedstock material, such as radioactive wastes into a large volume plasma processor equipped with a toroidal containment vessel and with at least one additional containment vessel. The second step is to maintain the product plasma spaced from the toroidal containment vessel walls by means of magnetic fields for the period of time over which the ionized and unionized species of elements of the feedstock material in the center of the plasma diffuses to the surface of the plasma. Next a first portion of the species is separated from the other species by repeatedly cycling all of the species of the product plasma between the plasma surface and deposition stages lining the toroidal containment vessel walls, whereby a portion of the elements which have high ionization probabilities, such as metals, preferentially accumulate on the deposition stages, while other species such as oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, which have lower ionization probabilities accumulate in the remainder of the confined product plasma.

The fourth step is to divert the remainder of the species of the product plasma, containing species such as oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen into the additional containment vessel at the end of the time over which the ionized and unionized species of elements of the feedstock material from the center of the plasma diffuse to the plasma surface. The fifth step is to cause these remaining species to move for an additional period of time along the parallel magnetic fields of the additional containment vessel. The sixth step is to collect the species moving along the additional containment vessel as they cool and recombine and land on the deposition stages lining the walls of the additional containment vessel. The seventh and final step is to remove the deposition stages with the collected material from the large volume plasma processor.

Another object of this invention is a method of separating the species of elements from each other on the basis of their differential sputtering rates with specially prepared materials.

Another object of this invention is a method of separating the species of elements from each other on the basis of their differential physisorption and chemisorption rates of interaction with specially prepared materials.

A second principal method in accordance with this invention differs from the first principal method by carrying out the separation of the species of elements from each other entirely in an additional confinement vessel The crucial step of this method is to separate the species of elements from each other based on their differences in ionization potential.

Another object of this invention is a method of separating the species of elements from each other on the basis of their differences in charge exchange cross sections with different atomic and molecular species.

Another object of this invention is a means of separating the species of elements from each other on the basis of their differences in charge to mass ratios.

Another object of this invention is a means of separating the species of elements from each other on the basis of their difference in attachment to ceramic, glass or other non-metallic beads.

A third principal method in accordance with this invention utilizes spectrometer obtained information that identifies the species and their spatial location in the product plasma to make decisions to divert the identified species into at least one of more than one additional containment vessels, one of which has means to separate the species from each other of high level nuclear waste and the other has means to separate the species from each other of low level nuclear waste.

These methods provide a unique new method for characterization, separation and preparation for either permanant storage or transmutation of high level nuclear wastes.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel large volume plasma processor apparatus for converting any feedstock material, such as high level nuclear waste, into a product plasma composed of the species of elements in the feedstock material

Another object of this invention is to provide additional confinement vessels and means to divert the product plasma into those vessels.

Another object of this invention is to provide apparatus in the additional confinement vessels with means for heating the plasma with electromagnetic wave heaters, with rf ponderomotive force applicators, with atomic and molecular beam projectors and with bead projectors.

This invention is a unique new method and apparatus for characterization, separation and preparation for either permanant storage or transmutation of high level nuclear wastes. The methods described herein can be used for reactor fuel element reprocessing, for elimination of chemical toxic wastes and can eliminate chemical or germ warfare weapons.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the drawings, from the specifications and embodiments, and the claims,

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The actual construction, operation and apparant advantages of this invention will be better understood by referring to the drawings in which like numerals identify like parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view, partly in blocks, showing the construction details of a large volume plasma processor.

FIG. 2 is a cross section, partly in blocks, through the line 2 in FIG. 1, that shows internal construction details of the large volume plasma processor.

FIG. 3 is a top view, partly in blocks, that shows an injector portion and an antenna attached to the large volume plasma processor.

FIG. 4 is a cross section, partly in blocks, through the line 3 in FIG. 3, that shows additional construction details of the large volume plasma processor.

FIG. 5 is a detailed block diagram of a driving power source for the toroidal field coils shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a detailed block diagram of a driving power source for the ohmic heating coils shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a detailed block diagram of a driving power source for the vertical field coils shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a detailed block diagram of a driving power source for the iron core bias field coils shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is a detailed block diagram of an enhanced driving power source for the ohmic heating coils.

FIG. 10 is a detailed block diagram of the driving power source for the additional ohmic heating coils.

FIG. 11 is a detailed block diagram of a driving power source for the lower hybrid heating system. in FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a top view and cross section, partly in blocks, showing the addition of magnetic field coils for diverting the plasma from the toroidal containment vessel into an additional containment vessel.

FIG. 13 is a schematic depicting the magnetic fields puckered out by the diverting magnetic field coils of FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a detailed block diagram of a driving power source for the diverting field coil shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 15 is a detailed block diagram of a driving power source for the toroidal field nulling coils shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 16 is a detailed block diagram of a driving power source for the expander field coils shown in FIG. 12.

FIG. 17 is a schematic depicting the electric current and magnetic field structure in the toroidal containment vessel.

FIG. 18a is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of the loop voltage which causes ohmic heating current to flow in the toroidal direction in the toroidal containment vessel.

FIG. 18b is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of the electric current.

FIG. 18c is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of electron number density.

FIG. 18d is a waveform showing the time dependence of the electron temperature.

FIG. 19a is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of loop voltage during low atomic number pellet injection.

FIG. 19b is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of electric current during low atomic number pellet injection.

FIG. 19c is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of electron number density during low atomic number pellet injection.

FIG. 19d is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of electron temperature during low atomic number pellet injection.

FIG. 20a is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of loop voltage during high atomic number pellet injection.

FIG. 20b is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of electric current during high atomic number pellet injection.

FIG. 20c is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of electron number density during high atomic number pellet injection.

FIG. 20d is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of electron temperature during high atomic number pellet injection.

FIG. 21a is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of loop voltage during high atomic number pellet injection with stabilization.

FIG. 21b is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of electric current during high atomic number pellet injection with stabilization.

FIG. 21c is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of electron number density during high atomic number pellet injection with stabilization.

FIG. 21d is a waveform diagram showing the time dependence of electron temperature during high atomic number pellet injection with stabilization.

FIG. 22 is a waveform diagram for repetitively pulsed operation.

FIG. 23a is a waveform diagram of the time dependence of the loop voltage during stabilized high atomic number pellet injection.

FIG. 23b is a graph of the species concentration versus radius.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of the separation of species using the first principal method.

FIG. 25 is a cross section of an additional confinement vessel equipped with various separation devices.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram of the separation of species using the second principal method.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Now, embodiments of this invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 and FIG. 2 describe the system components required to build a large volume plasma processor that can generate a product plasma composed principally of the ionized and unionized species of elements of any feedstock material such as uncharacterized high level nuclear waste.

FIG. 1 is a top view, partly in blocks, that shows construction details of a large volume plasma processor that produces a high temperature, low density plasma with a high energy flux that is called a process plasma. comprising a process plasma generation portion 10 with a toroidal containment vessel 11, a gas inlet 12 for supplying a generating gas, such as hydrogen, helium or neon, for the generation of the process plasma, toroidal magnetic field generation cells 13, a driving power source 14 for the toroidal field generation coils, an iron core yoke 15 to link the current in the ohmic heating cells with the toroidal current in the toroidal containment vessel.

FIG. 2 is a cross section, partly in blocks, through the line 2 in FIG. 1, that shows internal construction details of the large volume plasma processor, with a plasma ignitor 20, ohmic heating cells 21 for heating the process plasma, a driving power source 22 for the ohmic heating cells, vertical field coils 23 for positioning the process plasma within the toroidal containment vessel 11, a driving power source 24 for the vertical field coils, iron cora bias field cells 25, a driving power source 26 for the iron core bias field coils, limiters 27 to define the shape of the high energy flux plasma, and an exhaust pipe 28.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 describe the system components that are used to inject feedstock material and to heat and stabilize the interacting mixture of process plasma and feedstock material, referred to as the "combination plasma" in the disclosure above.

FIG. 3 is a top view, partly in blocks, that shows an injector portion 30 and an antenna 31 attached to the toroidal containment vessel 11.

FIG. 4 is a cross section, partly in blocks, through the line 3 in FIG. 3, that shows internal details that include additional ohmic heating coils 41, driving power source 42 for the additional ohmic heating coils, enhanced driving power source 43 for the ohmic heating coils 15, an antenna 31 and a driving power source 44 which is a lower hybrid frequency generator for the antenna 31 and deposition stages 45.

By way of example, a set of typical parameters for component sizes and power supplies suitable for a pulsed mode of operation are described in detail.

The typical dimensions for the toroidal containment vessel 11 of FIG. 1 are a major radius, R.sub.M, of 100 cm and a minor radius, r.sub.m, of about 50 cm. A typical material for the containment vessel 11 is stainless steel with a ceramic gap to allow transient magnetic fields to enter the containment vessel. The cross section of the toroidal containment vessel can be square as shown in FIG. 2, in which case r.sub.m is a mean of the dimensions. The cross section can be circular, octaganal or any continuous shape.

The toroidal magnetic field generation coils 13 as shown in FIG. 1 are made with 6 turns of copper wire that have a resistance of 1.2 milliohms and an inductance of 2 millihenry's. The outer dimensions of each coil are 150 cm.times.150 cm.times.90 cm. The bore is a rectangle with dimensions of 80 cm.times.90 cm.

A detailed block diagram of the driving power source 14 for the toroidal field coils is shown in FIG. 5. By way of example, this driving power source for the toroidal field coils is constructed with a power source 50 of 500 volts with single phase current capability of 157 kiloamperes, with a total power capability of 65 Megawatts, a voltage controller 52 which controls the output power of the power source 50, a rectifier circuit 52, which rectifies the controlled output current, a trigger circuit 53, which generates firing signals, and a switching circuit 54 to turn the system on and off.

The ohmic heating coils 21 of FIG. 4 are made with copper coils of from 90 to 180 cm in diameter with conducting cross sections of about 2.times.5 cm.

A detailed block diagram of the driving power source 22 for the ohmic heating coils 21 of FIG. 2 is shown in FIG. 6. By way of example, this driving power source for the ohmic heating coils is constructed with a power source 60 of up to 2000 volts with single phase current capability of 10 kiloamperes, with a total power capability of 2 Megawatts, a voltage controller 61 which controls the output power of the power source 60, a rectifier circuit 62, which rectifies the controlled output current, a trigger circuit 63, which generates firing signals, and a switching circuit 64 to turn the system on and off.

The vertical field coils 23 of FIG. 2 are for positioning the high energy flux within the toroidal containment vessel 11 are made of copper and encircle the torus in the same fashion as the ohmic heating coils 2t but are configured so that the net vertical field current circulating around the iron core is zero. Residual mutual inductance is cancelled out by raising the mutual inductance in the power feed circuits. An active feedback system from sensors that determine the position of the toroidal high energy flux plasma quickly change the current in the vertical field coils 23 to maintain position within the toroidal chamber.

A detailed block diagram of the driving power source 24 for the vertical field coils is shown in FIG. 7. By way of example, this driving power source for the vertical field coils is constructed with a power source 70 of up to 180 volts with single phase current capability of 10 kiloamperes, with a total power capability of 2 Megawatts, a voltage controller 71 which controls the output power of the power source 70, a rectifier circuit 72, which rectifies the controlled output current, a trigger circuit 73, which generates firing signals, and a switching circuit 74 to turn the system on and off.

The iron core bias field coils 25 of FIG. 2 consist of 40 turns of copper conductor 2.times.5 cm in cross section. these are wrapped around the center of the iron core.

A detailed block diagram of the driving power source 26 for the iron core bias field coils is shown in FIG. 8. By way of example, this driving power source for the iron core bias field coils is constructed with a power source 80 of up to 180 volts with single phase current capability of 10 kiloamperes, with a total power capability of 2 Megawatts, a voltage controller 81 which controls the output power of the power source 80, a rectifier circuit 82, which rectifies the controlled output current, a trigger circuit 83, which generates firing signals, and a switching circuit 84 to turn the system on and off.

The injector portion 30 of FIG. 3 is for injecting pellets of feedstock material into the process plasma formed with the equipment described above. The injector technology assumed for this example is a a gas fired pellet gun. For detailed discussion of pellet injection equipment options see "Pellet Injection Technology", Combs, Rev. Sci. Instrum., Vol 64, No. 7, July, 1993. The injector is designed to shoot pellets of fee