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This report is the milestone deliverable M4FT-17SN111102091 “Summary of Assessments Performed FY17 by SNL QA POC” for work package FT-17SN11110209 titled “Quality Assurance – SNL”. This report summarizes the FY17 assessment performed on Fuel Cycle Technologies / Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition efforts.
This memorandum addresses the effects of vegetative cover type (bamboo versus Bahia grass) and the timing of pine tree intrusion on intact infiltration rate for the proposed E-Area Low-Level Waste Facility (LLWF) closure cap system. It builds upon earlier reports whose purpose is to lay the foundation for the infiltration data package that will be assembled during the next revision of the E-Area LLWF Performance Assessment (PA).
Discussion of six specific applications for heat pipe (HP) devices on the space shuttle. These applications were chosen from 27 concepts formulated as part of a study to evaluate the potential benefits associated with HP use. The formulation process is briefly described along with the applications which evolved. The bulk of the discussion deals with the 'top' six - namely, HP radiators for waste heat rejection, an HP augmented cold rail, an HP circuit for electronic equipment cooling, modular heat sink for control of remote packages, an HP temperature control for compartments, and air-cooled equipment racks. The philosophy, physical design details, and performance data are presented for each concept along with a comparison with the baseline design where applicable.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of River Protection (ORP), manages the River Protection Project at the Hanford site in the South Eastern corner of Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mission of the River Protection Project is to retrieve and treat Hanford's tank waste and close the tank farms to protect the Columbia River. The Site Tank Operations Contractor (Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS)) via its site operations teams creates additional space in the Double Shell Tanks (DSTs) using the site's only remaining operational evaporator - 242-A. The current 242-A Evaporator has long been identified as a potential single point of failure that in the event of a major breakdown, could significantly impact retrieval operations at the Hanford Site. Areva has experience both on the Hanford site as an integrated subcontractor to the mission and in the design, procurement and construction of a mobile forced circulation evaporator unit designed to be used on Nuclear Regulatory Commission commercial nuclear utility sites. The mobile unit has been used at the following nuclear power plants: SONGS, Salem, Davis Besse, Waterford and Palo Verde. It was designed to take spent Water-EDTA based chemical cleaning solvent and evaporate water off to reduce the volume of waste required to go through downstream processes. It was further designed to fit inside ISO shipping containers. A multi-step approach will be used to: 1. review lessons learned from the previous DOE study for deploying a mobile evaporator on the Hanford sit, 2. evaluate the proposed waste streams and the required throughput and waste arising, sizing the evaporator appropriately, 3. develop a concept design requirements document for the use of a customized evaporator to meet the Hanford need 4. Design, and build a mobile evaporator and 5. Test, install and commission at a site to be agreed with WRPS/DOE. With an overall budget for the approach described of around $35 m, an operational evaporator could be delivered to site in 18-24 months from the approval of a detailed design package. Potential befits include the elimination of the 242-A evaporator as a single point failure, the creation of additional DST tank space and the elimination of the need to stage waste at the 242-A evaporator by moving the mobile unit to a location where is could be deployed at or close to the tank such as in 200W. (authors)
This procedure provides instructions for assembling the following contact-handled (CH) packaging payload: Standard Large Box 2 (SLB2).
This procedure provides instructions for assembling the following contact-handled (CH) packaging payload: Standard Large Box 2 (SLB2).
This procedure provides instructions for assembling the following contact-handled (CH) packaging payload: Standard Large Box 2 (SLB2).
This procedure provides instructions for assembling the following contact-handled (CH) packaging payload: Standard Large Box 2 (SLB2).
This procedure provides instructions for assembling the following contact-handled (CH) packaging payload: Standard Large Box 2 (SLB2).
Various United States Department of Energy (DOE) sites are investigating the deployment of robotics to provide safer, effective, and more efficient operations. By implementing robotics in packaging and transportation operations, improvements toward production efficiency, worker ergonomics, radiological dose reduction, and security assurance can be realized. Robotic Systems must be designed and implemented in concert with a facility’s safety basis, classification, and security constraints, while improving overall operational effectiveness. The desired robotic implementation should provide a path to potential long-term cost savings, reduce/eliminate hazardous conditions and radiological exposure, while improving quality and reliability of an operation process. The Savannah River Site (SRS), a DOE Site located in Aiken South Carolina, has initiated several large scale projects supporting future nuclear material disposition activities. Incorporation of automation and robotic equipment in system designs will support effective and efficient material handling operations, including container movements and packaging activities. Robotic systems will execute tasks that are precise, procedural and integrated with control systems to verify and record data for material inventory and historical archiving. An overview of the current robotic system development to perform receipt inspection, packaging, storage and shipment preparation activities of designated Type A and B shipping packages will be presented.
The Spent Fuel and Waste Science and Technology Campaign (SFWST) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) is conducting research and development on geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level nuclear waste (HLW). Two priorities for SFWST are design concept development and disposal system modeling. These priorities are directly addressed in the Geologic Disposal Safety Assessment (GDSA) control account, which is charged with developing a geologic repository system modeling and analysis capability, and the associated software, GDSA Framework, for evaluating disposal system performance for nuclear waste in geologic media. This report describes specific activities in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 associated with the GDSA Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis Methods work package. This report fulfills the GDSA Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis Methods work package (SF-25SN01030407) level 3 milestone, Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis Methods and Applications in GDSA Framework (FY2025) (M3SF-25SN010304072). This work was closely coordinated with the other Sandia National Laboratory GDSA work packages: the GDSA Framework Development work package (SF-25SN01030408), the GDSA Repository Systems Analysis work package (SF-25SN01030409), and the GDSA PFLOTRAN Development work package (SF-25SN01030410). This report builds on developments reported in previous GDSA Framework milestones, particularly M3SF-24SN010304072.
The Disposal Systems Evaluation Framework (DSEF) has been developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to formalize and facilitate the development and documentation of repository conceptual design options for a range of waste forms, geologic environments, repository design concepts, and repository operating modes. DSEF is one component of the Engineered Barrier System (EBS) family of work packages at several national laboratories led by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), in support of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, specifically of the Used Fuel Disposition (UFD) Campaign within the Office of Used Nuclear Fuel Disposition Research and Development (NE-53). DSEF is a knowledge management system that allows the user to intelligently access and draw data from a case library of hundreds of completed thermal analyses (currently 721 cases in the library), and draw input from databases of material properties and repository development cost data (currently the data in these databases are drawn from more than 100 references). The core functionality of DSEF is provided by a Microsoft Office Excel 2010 workbook with macros and form controls that create a structured environment and walk the user through the steps of creating the input data required to perform disposal system evaluations internally and by interfacing with external programs. The user can choose to work with built-in data from the case library of previous analysis cases, from the material property databases, or can define their own input descriptions and data. DSEF uses the Excel worksheet protection (implemented on a sheet by sheet basis) to prevent inadvertent over-writing of formulas with data. When worksheet protection is enabled, the user can see all underlying formulas, and enter data in unprotected cells (the unprotected cells generally correspond to the yellow highlighted cells). Worksheet protection also prevents restructuring the files (adding or deleting rows or columns) and changing the formatting, as well as preventing access to the Visual Basic Editor to prevent modification of the macros. If the user needs to modify the worksheet structure, formulas, or macros, they can contact LLNL to get the password to unprotect the worksheets. However, care should be taken in making any modifications, since the macros and formulas are dependent in some cases on the current structure, range names, and macro subroutines DSEF is set up to retrieve the results of external thermal analysis program runs, summarize them graphically, and provide a template for adding the new results to the Case Library. The Case Library worksheet in DSEF is set up to create a Case Library data record for each new analysis case, at the top of the list of prior cases. Therefore, a separate DSEF file (with unique name) should be saved for each run that is to be archived. Users should submit a copy of their DSEF files to LLNL so that their results can be added to the overall Case Library and made available to other laboratories and stakeholders. LLNL will maintain the DSEF Case Library and make the most current files available on the SNL SharePoint site. The Revision History sheet documents the file evolution. One of the key objectives of DSEF is to allow the user to compare the results of thermal analyses to the thermal constraints of the design components. These comparisons can then be used to consider design, layout, and operating mode modifications to find combinations that can meet the thermal constraints for a given combination of waste form, geologic medium, surface storage time, and system concept of operation.
Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a common thermoplastic material, used in a wide variety of applications (i.e., bottles, fabrics, packaging, electronics, and automotive components). Increasing demand for PET has precipitated a need for improved recycling technology, especially for single-use PET waste. Recently, enzymatic depolymerization has shown promise as an environmentally responsible alternative for PET chemical recycling that yields economically useful products (e.g., terephthalic acid, adipic acid, and ethylene glycol). However, the depolymerization system still suffers from low rates on crystalline PET substrates, and effects of realistic waste streams are not known. In our work, PET waste is pretreated using an ultra-high-speed twin-screw extruder system. PET substrates were modified by various processing pretreatments to allow enzymes better access to depolymerize substrate materials. The effect of varying throughput and mechanical shear on structural properties of the PET waste was analyzed using molecular weight and thermal characterizations. These pretreated samples exhibit modifications in molecular weight, glass transition temperature, crystallinity, and specific surface area. The unpurified leaf-branch compost cutinase enzyme produced from the fed-batch fermentation of Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) was used in enzymatic depolymerization, where a faster reaction was observed as crystallinity was decreased and the specific surface area was increased. The rate of terephthalic acid production was also significantly higher for samples processed at lower mechanical shear with higher throughputs. As a result, this work demonstrates the potential for tailoring pretreatments in pursuit of faster and more energy efficient PET recycling using enzymes, with facile adaptation to the industrial scale for the circular economy.
The Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC) within the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Fuel Cycle Technology (FCT) program has been tasked with investigating the disposal of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level nuclear waste (HLW) for a range of potential waste forms and geologic environments. This Lessons Learned task is part of a multi-laboratory effort, with this LLNL report providing input to a Level 3 SNL milestone (System-Wide Integration and Site Selection Concepts for Future Disposition Options for HLW). The work package number is: FTLL11UF0328; the work package title is: Technical Bases / Lessons Learned; the milestone number is: M41UF032802; and the milestone title is: “LLNL Input to SNL L3 MS: System-Wide Integration and Site Selection Concepts for Future Disposition Options for HLW”. The system-wide integration effort will integrate all aspects of waste management and disposal, integrating the waste generators, interim storage, transportation, and ultimate disposal at a repository site. The review of international experience in these areas is required to support future studies that address all of these components in an integrated manner. Note that this report is a snapshot of nuclear power infrastructure and international waste management programs that is current as of August 2011, with one notable exception. No attempt has been made to discuss the currently evolving world-wide response to the tragic consequences of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan on March 11, 2011, leaving more than 15,000 people dead and more than 8,000 people missing, and severely damaging the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex. Continuing efforts in FY 2012 will update the data, and summarize it in an Excel spreadsheet for easy comparison and assist in the knowledge management of the study cases.
In FY 2015, Hanford's Long-Term Stewardship (LTS) Program is tasked to complete the required entries into five cocooned plutonium production reactors (105-C, 105-D, 105-F, 105-H and 105-N), which sit adjacent to the Columbia River. The first reactor entered in October 2014, the cocooned plutonium production reactor, 105-F, signaled the LTS Program's entry into the Surveillance and Maintenance (S and M) era. Reactor entries at Hanford are conducted at 5-year intervals to assess the condition of the structures and evaluate potential deterioration of the reactor core, shield walls and roof. The cocooned structures are designed to protect the reactor core for up to 75 years while radioactive decay continues, ultimately making the structures safe for demolition and removal. The 105-F entry demonstrates that the LTS program at Hanford is shifting from a program focused on transitioning cleaned up land and waste sites to a program focused primarily on S and M activities. The entry process is carefully planned, choreographed and monitored to ensure safety of the workers and minimize the time the reactor structure is opened. The process includes controlled opening of the reactor, air quality monitoring, structural safety inspections, and radiological clearance. Once the structure is cleared for entry, assessments of the structural integrity and radiologic conditions are completed. Evaluation of the interior temperature and flood monitoring equipment is conducted. Facility visits by regulators and DOE personnel close out the process prior to welding the door closed until the next assessment, five years later. This paper will document execution of the entry work package, identify challenges overcome, and provide video documentation as reference material for future workers and the public. The current LTS program has responsibility for approximately 100,000 acres, over 200 waste sites and six cocooned reactors. Just over 5,600 documents have been identified, indexed and tagged for storage in the LTS document library. The program has successfully completed seven consecutive transitions since July 2011, with six more transitions planned in the next 18 months to support the U.S. Department of Energy Richland Operations Office's (DOE-RL) near-term cleanup objectives to significantly reduce the footprint of active cleanup operations for the River Corridor. (authors)
Advancements in technology have opened many opportunities to improve upon the current infrastructure surrounding the nuclear fuel cycle. Embedded devices, very small sensors, and wireless technology can be applied to Security, Safety, and Nonproliferation of Spent Nuclear Fuel. Security, separate of current video monitoring systems, can be improved by integrating current wireless technology with a variety of sensors including motion detection, altimeter, accelerometer, and a tagging system. By continually monitoring these sensors, thresholds can be set to sense deviations from nominal values. Then alarms or notifications can be activated as needed. Safety can be improved in several ways. First, human exposure to ionizing radiation can be reduced by using a wireless sensor package on each spent fuel cask to monitor radiation, temperature, humidity, etc. Since the sensor data is monitored remotely operator stay-time is decreased and distance from the spent fuel increased, so the overall radiation exposure is reduced as compared to visual inspections. The second improvement is the ability to monitor continuously rather than periodically. If changes occur to the material, alarm thresholds could be set and notifications made to provide advanced notice of negative data trends. These sensor packages could also record data to be used for scientific evaluation and studies to improve transportation and storage safety. Nonproliferation can be improved for spent fuel transportation and storage by designing an integrated tag that uses current infrastructure for reporting and in an event; tracking can be accomplished using the Iridium satellite system. This technology is similar to GPS but with higher signal strength and penetration power, but lower accuracy. A sensor package can integrate all or some of the above depending on the transportation and storage requirements and regulations. A sensor package can be developed using off the shelf technology and applying it to each specific need. There are products on the market for smart meters, industrial lighting control and home automation that can be applied to the Back End Fuel Cycle. With a little integration and innovation a cost effective solution is achievable.
Polyamides, such as nylons, are often used in multi-component materials, like textiles and packaging, and are accompanied with unique recycling challenges. Recently, autoxidation and bioconversion has emerged as a tandem approach for the conversion of mixed plastics waste to single products, however the fate of polyamides in these processes is unknown. Here, we optimized the autoxidation of nylon-6 and nylon-6,6 depolymerization, achieving >92 mol% nitrogen recovery from both substrates, predominantly as acetamide, and 20–27 mol% carbon recovery (not including acetamide). Experiments with 13 C-labeled acetic acid demonstrated that the carbon in acetamide was solvent derived. Autoxidation of mixed nylon-6 and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) post-consumer fibers resulted in similar carbon and nitrogen recoveries from nylon, while PET was depolymerized to terephthalic acid (TPA) at >65 C-mol% recovery. Next, we engineered Pseudomonas putida KT2440 to utilize acetamide as the sole carbon and nitrogen source for growth through the constitutive expression of genes encoding amidase enzymes, including a native amidase (PP_0613) shown to be active on C 2 –C 4 amides. Heterologous chromosomal expression of amiE, encoding the amidase from P. aeruginosa, was found to be superior to PP_0613 constitutive expression in genome integrated strains. Prior engineering to enable TPA conversion to β-ketoadipate pathway intermediate protocatechuate was leveraged and combined with deletion of pcaD to produce muconolactone as a product. Finally, a stacked strain engineered for conversion of acetamide, TPA, and DCAs was evaluated on the reaction product from autoxidation of mixed post-consumer nylon and PET fibers without any supplemental nitrogen, achieving quantitative yields in the presence of supplemental carbon.
SRNL has assisted in the examination of five 9975 shipping packages following storage of nuclear material in K-Area Complex (KAC). Two packages (9975-01641 and -01692) with water intrusion resulting from a roof leak were selected for detailed examination after internal fiberboard degradation (mold) was observed. 9975-01692 contained regions of saturated fiberboard and significant mold, while the second package was less degraded. A third package (9975-03373) was removed from storage for routine surveillance activities, and set aside for further examination after a musty odor was noted inside. No additional degradation was noted in 9975-03373, but the lower assembly could not be removed from the drum for detailed examination. Two additional packages (9975-02101 and -02713) identified for further examination were among a larger group selected for surveillance as part of a specific focus on high-wattage packages. These two packages displayed several non-conforming conditions, including the following: (1) the axial gap criterion was exceeded, (2) a significant concentration of moisture was found in the bottom fiberboard layers, with active mold in this area, (3) condensation and/or water stains were observed on internal components (drum, lid, air shield), and (4) both drums contained localized corrosion along the bottom lip. It is recommended that a new screening check be implemented for packages that are removed from storage, as well as high wattage packages remaining in storage. An initial survey for corrosion along the drum bottom lip of high wattage packages could identify potential degraded packages for future surveillance focus. In addition, after packages have been removed from storage (and unloaded), the drum bottom lip and underside should be inspected for corrosion. The presence of corrosion could signal the need to remove the lower fiberboard assembly for further inspection of the fiberboard and drum prior to recertification of the package.