Stone, Michael E. | Engineering Papers

DOE OSTI2023

Follow-on Report of Analysis of Approaches to Supplemental Treatment of Low–Activity Waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation (Volumes I & II)

The Hanford Site, in southeast Washington State, is preparing to disposition approximately 56,000,000 gallons (56 Mgal) of radioactive and chemically hazardous wastes currently stored in underground tanks at the site. Tank wastes will be divided into a high-activity fraction and a low-activity fraction for subsequent treatment and disposition. A waste processing and treatment facility, the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), will include the high-level waste (HLW) vitrification facility (WTP HLW Vitrification Facility) for immobilizing the high-activity fraction and a low-activity waste (LAW) vitrification facility (WTP LAW Vitrification Facility) for immobilizing the low-activity fraction. Both facilities will use vitrification technology to immobilize the Hanford tank wastes in a glass waste form.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2021

Appropriateness and Readiness of Cold Crucible Vitrification of Calcine Solids at the Idaho Site and H-Canyon Effluent at the Savannah River Site

This report summarizes the results from an assessment of the technology readiness and deployment of cold crucible induction melter (CCIM) technology to vitrify high level waste (HLW) calcine solids at the Idaho Site and H-Canyon liquid effluent at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The assessment was requested by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM), but is not a DOE 413-3-4a assessment for technology deployment. A joint Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and Fluor Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) team with subject matter experts evaluated the existent literature and experience both within the DOE as well as relevant external experience. The technology assessment focused on the site-specific technology readiness and appropriateness based on a number of system factors including feasibility and appropriateness of the technology for the specific site application, the potential extent of the regulatory and design challenges, and evaluation of the ability to deploy within the treatment needs of each site. This initial assessment provides information to support DOE-EM in making a go/no-go decision to carry out additional work on the technology maturation for critical decisions and planning.

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DOE OSTI2021

LAW Simulant Recipes for Evaluation of Real-Time, In-Line Monitoring Instruments

Statistically designed recipes were generated for evaluation of in-line instrumentation for the Real-Time In-Line Monitoring (RTIM) program in support of the Hanford Direct-Feed Low Activity Waste (DFLAW) program. The composition matrices were prepared based on Low Activity Waste (LAW) feed vector, melter feed, and Effluent Management Facility (EMF) feed information provided by the flowsheet integration modelling for the DFLAW portion of the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) mission. These composition matrices were converted to recipes for the LAW feed using the approaches for LAW simulant recipes developed by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). Recipes for the glass forming chemicals (GFCs) were developed based on expected mineral forms to be used to for each element to be added to the recipe.

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DOE OSTI2021

Evaluation of Ammonium and Iodine Decontamination Factors for Hanford's Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant Feed in the Effluent Treatment Facility

Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) reviewed the unit operations in the Effluent Treatment Facility (FTP) at the Hanford site to estimate the partitioning of iodine and ammonia when processing Waste Treatments and Immobilization Plant (WTP) feed. The evaluation consisted of literature and vendor data reviews and no experiments were performed. A list of the unit operations reviewed, along with estimated decontamination factors (DFs) for both iodine and ammonium are shown in the table below. With the exception of the Peroxide Decomposer, reasonable estimations of the decontamination factors for all operations are provided.

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DOE OSTI2020

LAW Simulant Recipes for Evaluation of Real-Time, In-Line Monitoring Instruments

Statistically designed recipes were generated for evaluation of in-line instrumentation for the Real-Time In-Line Monitoring (RTIM) program in support of the Hanford Direct-Feed Low Activity Waste (DFLAW) program. The composition matrices were prepared based on Low Activity Waste (LAW) feed vector, melter feed, and Effluent Management Facility (EMF) feed information provided by the flowsheet integration modelling for the DFLAW portion of the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) mission. These composition matrices were converted to recipes for the LAW feed using the approaches for LAW simulant recipes developed by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). Recipes for the glass forming chemicals (GFCs) were developed based on expected mineral forms to be used to for each element to be added to the recipe. The recipe matrices are shown in the Appendix.

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DOE OSTI2020

Iodine Flowsheet Status Report

A simplified flowsheet was developed to evaluate the impact of varied assumptions of I-129 decontamination factors on the overall I-129 material balance in the Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste (DFLAW) facility. The flowsheet allows inputs for I-129 feed and Decontamination Factors (DFs) for multiple DFLAW unit operations and provides information on I-129 partitioning to output streams. A series of 6 DFs were evaluated, including baseline DFs from a prior Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) study and refined values based on a Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) review. The Microsoft Excel flowsheet spreadsheet will be provided to WRPS to allow further evaluation of the impact of DF assumptions on output streams. The spreadsheet is not specific to iodine, the partitioning of any species can be estimated by entering the assumed DFs for each unit operation. Flowsheet outputs matched results from the prior WTP study and show that different assumptions for the DFs can greatly impact iodine partitioning to primary and secondary waste streams. Results from SRNL's baseline DF values suggest less than 50% of I-129 would be retained in glass versus the 96% when using the BNI DF values. In addition, the flowsheet demonstrated that more than 5 DFLAW operational cycles are required to achieve a steady-state of I-129 to the primary waste stream. It is not possible with the data available to determine whether the BNI approach or the approach taken in this study will be a better match for the iodine partitioning once the LAW facility begins operation.

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