DEVELOPMENT OF THE BULK VITRIFICATION TREATMENT PROCESS FOR THE LOW ACTIVITY FRACTION OF HANFORD SINGLE SHELL TANK WASTES.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE BULK VITRIFICATION TREATMENT PROCESS FOR THE LOW ACTIVITY FRACTION OF HANFORD SINGLE SHELL TANK WASTES.

Author: L. E. Thompson

Publisher:

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 9

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

AMEC Earth & Environmental, Inc. and RWE NUKEM Corporation have teamed to develop and apply a waste pre-treatment and bulk vitrification process for low activity waste (LAW) from Hanford Single Shell Tanks (SSTs). The pretreatment and bulk vitrification process utilizes technologies that have been successfully deployed to remediate both radioactive and chemically hazardous wastes at nuclear power plants, DOE sites, and commercial waste sites in the US and abroad. The process represents an integrated systems approach. The proposed AMEC/NUKEM process follow the extraction and initial segregation activities applied to the tank wastes carried out by others. The first stage of the process will utilize NUKEM's concentrate dryer (CD) system to concentrate the liquid waste stream. The concentrate will then be mixed with soil or glass formers and loaded into refractory-lined steel containers for bulk vitrification treatment using AMEC's In-Container Vitrification (ICV) process. Following the vitrification step, a lid will be placed on the container of cooled, solidified vitrified waste, and the container transported to the disposal site. The container serves as the melter vessel, the transport container and the disposal container. AMEC and NUKEM participated in the Mission Acceleration Initiative Workshop held in Richland, Washington in April 2000 [1]. An objective of the workshop was to identify selected technologies that could be combined into viable treatment options for treatment of the LAW fraction from selected Hanford waste tanks. AMEC's ICV process combined with NUKEM's CD system and other remote operating capabilities were presented as an integrated solution. The Team's proposed process received some of the highest ratings from the Workshop's review panel. The proposed approach compliments the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) by reducing the amount of waste that the WTP would have to process. When combined with the capabilities of the WTP, the proposed approach will accelerate the tank waste remediation program plan and facilitate meeting the regulatory requirements for the remediation of the Hanford tank wastes. Consequently, the DOE Office of River Protection and CH2MHill Hanford Group identified bulk vitrification as one of the technologies to be investigated in FY03 through a demonstration program [2]. In October 2002, CH2MHill issued a request for proposal for the process development testing, engineering and data package for a non-radioactive (cold) pilot bulk vitrification process, and pre-conceptual engineering of a production bulk vitrification system. With AMEC in the lead, AMEC and NUKEM responded with a proposal. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) will support the proposed project as a key subcontractor by providing equipment, facilities, and personnel to support small-scale testing, including the testing on samples of actual tank wastes. This paper will provide an overview of the pre-treatment and bulk vitrification process, summarize the technical benefits the approach offers, and describe the demonstration program that has been developed for the project.

FRACTIONAL CRYSTALLIZATION OF HANFORD SINGLE SHELL TANK (SST) WASTES LABORATORY DEVELOPMENT.
FRACTIONAL CRYSTALLIZATION OF HANFORD SINGLE SHELL TANK (SST) WASTES LABORATORY DEVELOPMENT.

Author: D. L. HERTING

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Laboratory studies demonstrate that fractional crystallization is a viable process for separating Hanford medium-curie waste into high-curie and low-curie fractions. The product salt from the crystallization process qualifies as low-curie feed to a supplemental treatment system (e.g., bulk vitrification). The high-curie raffinate is returned to the double-shell tank system, eventually to be sent as feed to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. Process flowsheet tests were designed with the aid of thermodynamic chemical modeling. Laboratory equipment design and test procedures were developed using simulated tank waste samples. Proof-of-concept flowsheet tests were carried out in a shielded hot cell using actual tank waste samples. Data from both simulated waste tests and actual tank waste tests demonstrate that the process exceeded all of the separation criteria established for the program.

Waste Forms Technology and Performance
Waste Forms Technology and Performance

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-09-05

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 0309187338

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) is responsible for cleaning up radioactive waste and environmental contamination resulting from five decades of nuclear weapons production and testing. A major focus of this program involves the retrieval, processing, and immobilization of waste into stable, solid waste forms for disposal. Waste Forms Technology and Performance, a report requested by DOE-EM, examines requirements for waste form technology and performance in the cleanup program. The report provides information to DOE-EM to support improvements in methods for processing waste and selecting and fabricating waste forms. Waste Forms Technology and Performance places particular emphasis on processing technologies for high-level radioactive waste, DOE's most expensive and arguably most difficult cleanup challenge. The report's key messages are presented in ten findings and one recommendation.

TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT OF BULK VITRIFICATION PROCESS & PRODUCT FOR TANK WASTE TREATMENT AT THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HANFORD SITE.
TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT OF BULK VITRIFICATION PROCESS & PRODUCT FOR TANK WASTE TREATMENT AT THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY HANFORD SITE.

Author: P. S. SCHAUS

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

At the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site, the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) is being constructed to immobilize both high-level waste (IUW) for disposal in a national repository and low-activity waste (LAW) for onsite, near-surface disposal. The schedule-controlling step for the WTP Project is vitrification of the large volume of LAW, current capacity of the WTP (as planned) would require 50 years to treat the Hanford tank waste, if the entire LAW volume were to be processed through the WTP. To reduce the time and cost for treatment of Hanford Tank Waste, and as required by the Tank Waste Remediation System Environmental Impact Statement Record of Decision and the Hanford Federal Facility Consent Agreement (Tn-Party Agreement), DOE plans to supplement the LAW treatment capacity of the WTP. Since 2002, DOE, in cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency and State of Washington Department of Ecology has been evaluating technologies that could provide safe and effective supplemental treatment of LAW. Current efforts at Hanford are intended to provide additional information to aid a joint agency decision on which technology will be used to supplement the WTP. A Research, Development and Demonstration permit has been issued by the State of Washington to build and (for a limited time) operate a Demonstration Bulk Vitrification System (DBVS) facility to provide information for the decision on a supplemental treatment technology for up to 50% of the LAW. In the Bulk Vitrification (BV) process, LAW, soil, and glass-forming chemicals are mixed, dried, and placed in a refractory-lined box, Electric current, supplied through two graphite electrodes in the box, melts the waste feed, producing a durable glass waste-form. Although recent modifications to the process have resulted in significant improvements, there are continuing technical concerns.

Progress Report on the Laboratory Testing of the Bulk Vitrification Cast Refractory
Progress Report on the Laboratory Testing of the Bulk Vitrification Cast Refractory

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Hanford Site in southeastern Washington State has been used extensively to produce nuclear materials for the U.S. strategic defense arsenal by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). A large inventory of radioactive and mixed waste has accumulated in 177 single- and double-shell tanks. Liquid waste recovered from the tanks will be pre-treated to separate the low-activity fraction from the high-level and transuranic wastes. Currently, the DOE Office of River Protection (ORP) is evaluating several options for immobilization of low-activity tank wastes for eventual disposal in a shallow subsurface facility at the Hanford Site. A significant portion of the waste will be converted into immobilized low-activity waste (ILAW) glass with a conventional Joule-heated ceramic melter. In addition to ILAW glass, supplemental treatment technologies are under consideration by the DOE to treat a portion of the low activity waste. The reason for using this alternative treatment technology is to accelerate the overall cleanup mission at the Hanford site. The ORP selected Bulk Vitrification (BV) for further development and testing. Work in FY03 on engineered and large scale tests of the BV process suggested that approximately 0.3 to as much as 3 wt% of the waste stream 99Tc inventory would end up in a soluble form deposited in a vesicular layer located at the top of the BV melt and in the sand used as an insulator after vitrification. In the FY03 risk assessment (RA) (Mann et al., 2003), the soluble Tc salt in the BV waste packages creates a 99Tc concentration peak at early times in the groundwater extracted from a 100-meter down-gradient well. This peak differs from the presently predicted baseline WTP glass performance, which shows an asymptotic rise to a constant release rate. Because of the desire by regulatory agencies to achieve essentially equivalent performance to WTP glass with supplemental treatment technologies, the BV process was modified in FY04 in an attempt to minimize deposition of soluble 99Tc salts by including a castable refractory block (CRB) in place of a portion of the refractory sand layer and using a bottom-up melting technique to eliminate the vesicular glass layer at the top. However, the refractory block is still porous and there is the potential for leachable 99Tc to deposit in the pores of the CRB. The purpose of this progress report is to document the status of a laboratory testing program being conducted at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for CH2M Hill Hanford Group in support of the LAW Supplemental Treatment Technologies Demonstration project. The objective of these tests was to provide an initial estimate of the leachable fraction of key contaminants of concern (Cs, Re [chemical analogue for 99Tc], and 99Tc) that could condense within the BV CRB. This information will be used to guide development of additional modifications to the BV process to further reduce the soluble 99Tc levels in the BV waste package.

International Seminar On Nuclear War And Planetary Emergencies - 40th Session
International Seminar On Nuclear War And Planetary Emergencies - 40th Session

Author: Richard C Ragaini

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2009-08-03

Total Pages: 801

ISBN-13: 9814466514

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Erice International Seminars are multidisciplinary seminars attended by over 100 eminent participants from all fields of science. Each year, a few scientific issues are selected and experts are invited to present contrasting views during the plenary multidisciplinary sessions of the seminar. General debates soon follow. These sessions offer a unique opportunity for specialists to broaden their perspectives after being confronted with ideas and suggestions from high level scientists in complementary domains of science. Associated workshops allow the experts to further refine and process the ideas evoked during the seminar. This year's topics are focused on the World Energy Crisis and more specifically on the future of nuclear power, the sustainability of biofuels and nuclear waste. On Global Monitoring of the Planet we have focused on the climate change issue and specifically on the theoretical basis for model calculations, on vector-borne and air-borne particulates disseminating diseases and the crisis in internet security. A full day session was devoted to the Disarmament and Proliferation Regime, in collaboration with the Government of Italy and international institutions.

Glass Optimization for Vitrification of Hanford Site Low-level Tank Waste
Glass Optimization for Vitrification of Hanford Site Low-level Tank Waste

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The radioactive defense wastes stored in 177 underground single-shell tanks (SST) and double-shell tanks (DST) at the Hanford Site will be separated into low-level and high-level fractions. One technology activity underway at PNNL is the development of glass formulations for the immobilization of the low-level tank wastes. A glass formulation strategy has been developed that describes development approaches to optimize glass compositions prior to the projected LLW vitrification facility start-up in 2005. Implementation of this strategy requires testing of glass formulations spanning a number of waste loadings, compositions, and additives over the range of expected waste compositions. The resulting glasses will then be characterized and compared to processing and performance specifications yet to be developed. This report documents the glass formulation work conducted at PNL in fiscal years 1994 and 1995 including glass formulation optimization, minor component impacts evaluation, Phase 1 and Phase 2 melter vendor glass development, liquidus temperature and crystallization kinetics determination. This report also summarizes relevant work at PNNL on high-iron glasses for Hanford tank wastes conducted through the Mixed Waste Integrated Program and work at Savannah River Technology Center to optimize glass formulations using a Plackett-Burnam experimental design.

A COMPREHENSIVE TECHNICAL REVIEW OF THE DEMONSTRATION BULK VITRIFICATION SYSTEM.
A COMPREHENSIVE TECHNICAL REVIEW OF THE DEMONSTRATION BULK VITRIFICATION SYSTEM.

Author: P. S. SCHAUS

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In May 2006, CH2M Hill Hanford Group, Inc. chartered an Expert Review Panel (ERP) to review the current status of the Demonstration Bulk Vitrification System (DBVS). It is the consensus of the ERP that bulk vitrification is a technology that requires further development and evaluation to determine its potential for meeting the Hanford waste stabilization mission. No fatal flaws (issues that would jeopardize the overall DBVS mission that cannot be mitigated) were found, given the current state of the project. However, a number of technical issues were found that could significantly affect the project's ability to meet its overall mission as stated in the project ''Justification of Mission Need'' document, if not satisfactorily resolved. The ERP recognizes that the project has changed from an accelerated schedule demonstration project to a formally chartered project that must be in full compliance with DOE 413.3 requirements. The perspective of the ERP presented herein, is measured against the formally chartered project as stated in the approved Justification of Mission Need document. A justification of Mission Need document was approved in July 2006 which defined the objectives for the DBVS Project. In this document, DOE concluded that bulk vitrification is a viable technology that requires additional development to determine its potential applicability to treatment of a portion of the Hanford low activity waste. The DBVS mission need statement now includes the following primary objectives: (1) process approximately 190,000 gallons of Tank S-109 waste into fifty 100 metric ton boxes of vitrified product; (2) store and dispose of these boxes at Hanford's Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF); (3) evaluate the waste form characteristics; (4) gather pilot plant operability data, and (5) develop the overall life cycle system performance of bulk vitrification and produce a comparison of the bulk vitrification process to building a second LAW Immobilization facility or other supplemental treatment alternatives as provided in M-62-08.

DESIGN OF THE DEMOSNTRATION BULK VITRIFICATION SYSTEM FOR THE SUPPLEMENTAL TREATMENT OF LOW ACTIVITY TANK WASTE AT HANFORD.
DESIGN OF THE DEMOSNTRATION BULK VITRIFICATION SYSTEM FOR THE SUPPLEMENTAL TREATMENT OF LOW ACTIVITY TANK WASTE AT HANFORD.

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In June 2004, the Demonstration Bulk Vitrification System (DBVS) was initiated with the intent to design, construct, and operate a full-scale bulk vitrification pilot-plant to treat low-activity tank waste from Hanford Tank 241-S-109. The DBVS facility uses In-Container Vitrification{trademark} (ICV{trademark}) at the core of the treatment process. The basic process steps combine liquid low-activity waste (LAW) and glassformers; dry the mixture; and then vitrify the mixture in a batch feed-while-melt process in a refractory lined steel container. Off-gases are processed through a state-of-the-art air pollution control system including sintered-metal filtration, thermal oxidation, acid gas scrubbing, and high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) and high-efficiency gas adsorber (HEGA) filtration. Testing has focused on development and validation of the waste dryer, ICV, and sintered-metal filters (SMFs) equipment, operations enhancements, and glass formulation. With a parallel testing and design process, testing has allowed improvements to the DBVS equipment configuration and operating methodology, since its original inception. Design improvements include optimization of refractory panels in the ICV, simplifying glassformer addition equipment, increasing the number of waste feed chutes to the ICV, and adding capability for remote clean-out of piping, In addition, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has provided an independent review of the entire DBVS process. While the review did not find any fatal flaws, some technical issues were identified that required a re-evaluation of the DBVS design and subsequent changes to the design. A 100 percent design package for the pilot plant will be completed and submitted to DOE for review in early 2008 that incorporates process improvements substantiated through testing and reviews. This paper provides a description of the bulk vitrification process and a discussion of major equipment design changes that have occurred based on full-scale testing over the past two years and DOE reviews.

Waste Form Qualification Compliance Strategy for Bulk Vitrification
Waste Form Qualification Compliance Strategy for Bulk Vitrification

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Bulk Vitrification System is being pursued to assist in immobilizing the low-activity tank waste from the 53 million gallons of radioactive waste in the 177 underground storage tanks on the Hanford Site. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the bulk vitrification process, a research and development facility known as the Demonstration Bulk Vitrification System (DBVS) is being built to demonstrate the technology. Specific performance requirements for the final packaged bulk vitrification waste form have been identified. In addition to the specific product-performance requirements, performance targets/goals have been identified that are necessary to qualify the waste form but do not lend themselves to specifications that are easily verified through short-term testing. Collectively, these form the product requirements for the DBVS. This waste-form qualification (WFQ) strategy document outlines the general strategies for achieving and demonstrating compliance with the BVS product requirements. The specific objectives of the WFQ activities are discussed, the bulk vitrification process and product control strategy is outlined, and the test strategy to meet the WFQ objectives is described. The DBVS product performance targets/goals and strategies to address those targets/goals are described. The DBVS product-performance requirements are compared to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant immobilized low-activity waste product specifications. The strategies for demonstrating compliance with the bulk vitrification product requirements are presented.