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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Lagoon Seepage Testing Plan for the Specific Manufacturing Capability (SMC) Complex Sewage Lagoons at Idaho National Laboratory, Butte County, Idaho

Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA) operates the Specific Manufacturing Capability (SMC) Complex located in Butte County, Idaho at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The SMC Complex has an existing wastewater system to collect and treat sanitary wastewater and boiler condensate water from the facility. The existing treatment facility consists of three cells: Cell #1 has a surface area of 1.6 acres, Cell #2 has a surface area of 3.2 acres, and Cell #3 has a surface area of 1.6 acres. If the three existing cells are to ever reach capacity, there is a stub out to the northeast for future expansion of the lagoons. The Lagoons were installed in 1994, and were last tested in 2009. All three cells were within the acceptable limit, which at the time was one-quarter inch per day or less. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) is requiring that the seepage tests at SMC be repeated every 10 years.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Cross-Section Comparison for Pu-238 Production in the Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho National Laboratory

Qualification of Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) positions for Pu-238 production has been ongoing at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The ATR qualifications have stretched over multiple years during which new techniques have been developed and made available for ATR experiment neutronic analysis. As part of the transition to newer codes, new cross-section libraries have been evaluated for use in the Pu-238 production experiment analysis. A comparative study was done using the MCNP ORGIEN Activation Analysis (MOAA) tool between ENDF/B-VII.0 and ENDF/B-VIII.0 cross sections to capture the impact of the change in cross-sections on the analysis needed to qualify Pu-238 production targets. All comparisons were done assuming the ATR GEN-I targets were located in the south flux trap of the ATR. Finally, an overview of how this qualification and potential irradiation fits into Pu-238 is discussed.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Geology and in situ stress of the MH-2 borehole, Idaho, USA: Insights into western Snake River Plain structure from geothermal exploration drilling

Project HOTSPOT, the Snake River Scientific Drilling Project (International Continental Scientific Drilling Program), tested for deep geothermal resources and examined the petrology of volcanic rocks with three drillholes in the central and western Snake River Plain (western USA). The MH-2 drillhole targeted fractured crystalline and hydrothermally altered basalt in the area of the Mountain Home Air Force Base (Idaho) to a total depth of 1821 m. At 1745 m depth the drillhole encountered flowing artesian hydrothermal fluids of at least 150 °C. We integrate geological analyses of core, image log, and borehole geophysical data, and in situ stress analyses to describe the structural environment that produces permeability for artesian flow. The rocks in the lower 540 m of the drillhole consist of basalt flows as much as 30 m thick, altered basalt, and thin sedimentary horizons. The mechanical stratigraphy is defined by nine mechanical horizons that are in three ranges of rock strength on the basis of experimentally determined strength data, core logging, and geophysical log signatures. Hydrothermal alteration products and mineralization in the core are associated with three highly faulted sections; the lowermost section is associated with the zone of flowing thermal water. Shear slip indicators on faults observed in core indicate slip ranging from pure strike slip to normal failure mechanisms in the stronger horizons. The borehole breakouts indicate that the maximum horizontal stress, SH, is oriented 047° ± 7°, and drilling-induced tensile fractures indicate that SH is oriented at 67° ± 21°. The in situ stress orientations exhibit little variation over the depth of the measured interval, but the SH magnitude varies with depth, and is best explained by an oblique normal fault stress regime. The geomechanical model indicates that if pore pressures at depth are elevated above the normal hydrostatic gradient, as observed here, the system has the potential to deform by mixed normal and strike-slip failure. Our observations and interpretations suggest that the MH-2 borehole was drilled into oblique normal faults that intersect a buried 300°-trending fault block masked by the basaltic volcanic complex. These data indicate that the transition from the central to western Snake River Plain is characterized by complex structures developed in response to a transitional stress state related to Snake River Plain and western Basin and Range stress regimes. Furthermore, the western Basin and Range stress and tectonic regime may extend from northern Nevada into western Idaho and may enhance the potential for geothermal resources by creating interconnected fracture and fault-related permeability at depth.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Special Analysis for the Disposal of the Idaho National Laboratory Idaho Chemical Processing Plant Low-Level Waste Stream at the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site, Nevada National Security Site, Nye County, Nevada

This special analysis (SA) evaluates whether the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) Low-Level waste stream is suitable for disposal by shallow land burial at the Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The INL ICPP Low-Level waste stream consists of debris and solidified liquids. The INL ICPP Low-Level waste stream requires an SA to resolve two unreviewed disposal questions (UDQs). The first UDQ addresses whether it is acceptable to dispose of radium-226 (226Ra) at an activity concentration that exceeds the NNSS Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC) Action Level. The second UDQ evaluates the acceptability of disposing of five long-lived radionuclides without WAC action levels. Long-lived radionuclides without action levels are radionuclides not evaluated in the performance assessment.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2012

Idaho National Laboratory Ten-Year Site Plan Project Description Document: Descriptions of the capital projects delineated in the Idaho National Laboratory 2013 - 2022 Ten-Year Site Plan as of June 2011

This document describes the currently active and proposed infrastructure projects listed in Appendix B of the Idaho National Laboratory 2013-2022 Ten Year Site Plan (DOE/ID-11449). It was produced in accordance with Contract Data Requirements List I.06. The projects delineated in this document support infrastructure needs at INL's Research and Education Campus, Materials and Fuels Complex, Advanced Test Reactor Complex and the greater site-wide area. The projects provide critical infrastructure needed to meet current and future INL operational and research needs. Execution of these projects will restore, rebuild, and revitalize INL's physical infrastructure; enhance program execution, and make a significant contribution toward reducing complex-wide deferred maintenance.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2012

Analysis and Methane Gas Separations Studies for City of Marsing, Idaho. An Idaho National Laboratory Technical Assistance Program Study

Introduction and Background: Large amounts of methane in well water is a wide spread problem in North America. Methane gas from decaying biomass and oil and gas deposits escape into water wells typically through cracks or faults in otherwise non-porous rock strata producing saturated water systems. This methane saturated water can pose several problems in the delivery of drinking water. The problems range from pumps vapor locking (cavitating), to pump houses exploding. The City of Marsing requested Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to assist with some water analyses as well as to provide some engineering approaches to methane capture through the INL Technical Assistance Program (TAP). There are several engineering approaches to the removal of methane and natural gas from water sources that include gas stripping followed by compression and/or dehydration; membrane gas separators coupled with dehydration processes, membrane water contactors with dehydration processes.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2014

Lagoon Seepage Testing Procedures for Central Facilities Area (CFA) Sewage Lagoons at Idaho National Laboratory Butte County, Idaho April 2014

The lagoon seepage testing procedures are documented herein as required by the Wastewater Rules (IDAPA 58.01.16.493). The Wastewater Rules and Wastewater Reuse Permit LA-000141-03 require that the procedure used for performing a seepage test be approved by IDEQ prior to conducting the seepage test. The procedures described herein are based on a seepage testing plan that was developed by J-U-B ENGINEERS, Inc. (J-U-B) and has been accepted by several IDEQ offices for lagoons in Idaho.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Lagoon Seepage Testing Report for Central Facilities Area (CFA) Sewage Lagoons at Idaho National Laboratory, Butte County, Idaho

J-U-B ENGINEERS, Inc. (J-U-B) performed seepage tests on the CFA Wastewater Lagoons 1, 2, and 3 between August 26th and September 22nd, 2014. The lagoons were tested to satisfy the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Rules (IDAPA 58.01.16) that require all lagoons be tested at a frequency of every 10 years and the Compliance Activity CA-141-03 in the DEQ Wastewater Reuse Permit for the CFA Sewage Treatment Plant (LA-000141-03). The lagoons were tested to determine if the average seepage rates are less than 0.25 in/day, the maximum seepage rate allowed for lagoons built prior to April 15, 2007. The average seepage rates were estimated for each lagoon and are given in Table-ES1. The average seepage rates for Lagoons 1 and 2 are less than the allowable seepage rate of 0.25 in/day. Lagoon 1 and 2 passed the seepage test and will not have to be tested again until the year 20241. However, the average seepage rate for Lagoon 3 appears to exceed the allowable seepage rate of 0.25 in/day which means the potential source for the excessive leakage should be investigated further.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Inferring Geothermal Reservoir Processes at the Raft River Geothermal Field, Idaho, USA, Through Modeling InSAR-Measured Surface Deformation

Ground surface deformations detected with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) provide valuable information for inferring subsurface reservoir processes that are difficult to observe directly. This study aims at building a reservoir model that honors the available geological, hydrological and geo-mechanical data and also produces ground surface deformation consistent with InSAR measurements at the Raft River Geothermal Field. In the thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) coupled model developed, the reservoir deforms as a result of the rock’s poroelastic response to changes in hydrologic pressure and thermal expansion/contraction. The results indicate that the observed deformation is the result of pressure decrease in the deep production reservoir and pressure increase in a shallower reservoir that accommodates the injected fluid (likely in the Salt Lake Formation). The combination of the uplift around injection wells with subsidence around the production wells, affected by the Bridge Fault as a flow barrier, creates a complex pattern of surface deformation in which the center of subtle subsidence significantly deviates from the location of the production wells. A parametric study suggests that (1) the Bridge Fault Zone is likely a flow barrier, (2) the surface deformation appears to be insensitive to the presence of the Narrows Structure, and (3) additional flow barriers likely exist to shape the flow system. This case study demonstrates the utility of a high-fidelity forward model that honors available known information and THM coupled processes in understanding geothermal reservoir characteristics.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Panel Session 31: US DOE Featured Site: 30 Years of Environmental Management at the Idaho National Laboratory (1/5)

This panel highlighted the cleanup challenges and successes at the Idaho site, including the landmark Idaho Settlement Agreement, effective collaborative regulatory strategies, worker involvement, stakeholder involvement, and looking ahead. 2019 marks 30 years since the start of the DOE-EM mission at the Idaho National Laboratory Site. This panel focused on the cleanup successes and challenges at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site (Idaho, USA) over the last 30 years. The INL was added to the National Priorities List of Superfund Sites in 1989. Since that listing, the INL has been focused on meeting the cleanup milestones outlined in the Site Treatment Plan, 1991 Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement, and other agreements between the Department of Energy (DOE) and State of Idaho. Presentation proposed: 30 Years of Cleanup at Idaho National Laboratory Site (Nolan Jensen, US DOE - Idaho Operations Office - Idaho Cleanup Project (USA), Kliss McNeel, Fluor Idaho (USA), Mark Clough, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (USA), Darrell Early, Office of the Idaho Attorney General (USA), Rebecca Casper, City of Idaho Falls (USA))

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Panel Session 51: Idaho Transuranic Waste Challenges, Solutions and Implications for the Future (3/5)

This panel focused on the retrieval, characterization, treatment, certification, and shipping of transuranic (TRU) waste at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site, Idaho, USA. The INL began receiving TRU waste from offsite generators (primarily the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado, USA) beginning in 1954. Until 1970, the INL Site disposed of barrels, boxes, and other debris in a shallow, unlined landfill. Beginning in 1970, the INL Site began storing TRU waste on an asphalt pad, which was then covered with several feet of soil. This practice continued until the late 1980's at which time a large air support building was erected over the waste. In the mid-to-late 1990's, the air support building was removed and a massive building was constructed over the entire dirt mound. Contractors retrieved the waste from the early 2000's through February 2017 to support an Idaho Settlement Agreement milestone that required the retrieval of 65,000 cubic meters of TRU waste and removal from Idaho. This panel focused on the Idaho Transuranic Waste Challenges, Solutions and Implications for the Future. The Idaho Transuranic Waste Program includes buried and stored waste retrieval and processing of contact- and remote-handled transuranic waste. Over the duration of the program, the Idaho site has conducted targeted retrieval of buried waste from the 1950's and 1960's; designed, permitted, built, operated, and completed the mission of a facility to process 65,000 cubic meters of waste; and shipped more than 57,000 cubic meters of waste to WIPP. Presentation proposed: Transuranic Waste Challenges and Solutions (Hoss Brown, Fluor Idaho, LLC (USA), John McCoy, Fluor Idaho, LLC (USA), James Malmo, US DOE (USA), Doug Pruitt, Department of Energy Idaho Field Office (USA), Kenneth Princen, US DOE (USA))

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

On the Road to Achieving Safety Excellence at the Idaho Cleanup Project: The Initial Challenges, Solutions, and Positive Results of Striving to be the Best and Safest in the DOE Complex - 20518

When Fluor Idaho, LLC (Fluor Idaho) assumed the Idaho Cleanup Project Core contract (ICP Core) in mid-2016, it inherited the successful multi-faceted, employee-owned safety programs of two prior contractors supporting cleanup operations at the Idaho National Laboratory Site. Fluor Idaho incorporated the best of both safety programs along with Fluor Corporate's 106-year legacy of safety initiatives and successes. Fluor Idaho integrated the separate programs and cultures under a One Fluor approach - one project, one mission, One Fluor. Job changes, management changes, and procedures, processes, and system changes presented multiple challenges. Those challenges combined with the severe Winter of 2016/2017 resulted in numerous slips, trips, and falls first aids and reportable injuries. The road to safety excellence started off bumpy and stayed that way for some time. Since then, Fluor Idaho has successfully implemented several key initiatives including employee engagement; management engagement and time in the field; communications improvements; safety culture sustainment; injury/illness prevention; organizational learning; and DOE Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) readiness and preparation. Management became more engaged by making more workplace visits and increasing their supervision of 'life critical work' or complex activities. Additional training became mandatory for first-line supervisors and front-line workers. Most recently, Fluor Idaho increased its injury and illness prevention initiatives extensively. In the last year, things have turned around in a dramatic way. This shift is directly attributable to the significant number of initiatives launched in late 2017 and 2018. These initiatives addressed safety performance in the five key areas of the DOE VPP and promoted sustainability of the company's safety culture. The five key areas are: management leadership, employee involvement, work-site analysis, hazard prevention and control, and safety and health training. Employees and managers alike recommitted to making safety the highest value. The result of this laser-like focus on safety and accident and injury prevention is that injuries and first aids are a fraction of what they were. During FY 2019, employees worked more than 4.2 million hours without a serious injury or lost work-day and 1 million hours without a recordable injury. Fluor Idaho is proud of its safety trend. The company invested significant resources in improving its safety record, and that investment is paying off. Other contractors in the DOE Complex can learn and benefit from this discussion of the challenges Fluor Idaho faced, as well as its innovative safety initiatives that are producing results that are being recognized by our U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) customer. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

Unique Facilities, Innovative Treatment Processes, and a Talented Workforce Allow Fluor Idaho to Successfully Disposition Transuranic Waste - 18388

Fluor Idaho is utilizing state-of-the-art equipment, treatment technologies, and employee expertise at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Idaho Site to treat contact-handled transuranic (CH-TRU) waste, as well as extremely challenging remote-handled transuranic (RH-TRU) waste forms, to prepare the material for shipment and permanent disposal at the Department's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Nowhere else in the DOE Complex - perhaps the world - will one find the compilation of tools and an experienced workforce with an unparalleled history of safely retrieving, characterizing, treating, repackaging, certifying, and shipping TRU waste. Since 2003, the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) has used both conventional and unique retrieval concepts, high-tech characterization equipment - including real-time radiography and radioassay - robotics, and automated treatment processes to retrieve and treat 65,000 cubic meters of above-ground CH-TRU waste. Additionally, engineered controls and specialized personal protective equipment have allowed employees to make thousands of entries into high-radiation areas without a skin or clothing contamination incident - evidence of the employees' commitment to safety. AMWTP has encountered and found solutions for many challenging waste forms, including polychlorinated biphenyl-contaminated wastes, TRU waste containers with up to 1,000 fissile gram equivalent plutonium-239, oversized TRU boxes, and partially absorbed organic sludge waste. By utilizing additional facilities and equipment at the Accelerated Retrieval Project V and VII, Fluor Idaho has developed new processing lines and capabilities to ensure worker safety and milestone completion. These two soft-sided buildings, located at a facility adjacent to AMWTP, were originally constructed to exhume Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) TRU wastes from a section of a 97-acre landfill. After a total of 1,150 cubic meters of targeted waste were removed, personnel, working in collaboration with state regulators, successfully implemented a unique regulatory strategy that allowed these CERCLA facilities to be modified and permitted to treat Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) wastes from the AMWTP - a savings of tens of millions of dollars over the cost of constructing new buildings. Adding to the AMWTP's technological uniqueness is its ability to treat wastes from other facilities in the DOE Complex. Two prior decision documents and an agreement with the state of Idaho have allowed AMWTP to treat wastes from 15 other DOE sites. It is the only project in the complex to have done so. At another project located next to AMWTP, targeted waste exhumation within the Subsurface Disposal Area is approximately two years ahead of schedule. Crews have removed more than 8,600 cubic meters of CH-TRU and hazardous wastes from eight exhumation areas that equal a combined footprint of 4.75 acres. Less than one acre remains to be exhumed to satisfy the 2008 Record of Decision waste exhumation end state between the DOE, Environmental Protection Agency, and state of Idaho. Construction of the final building where targeted waste exhumation will continue was completed during the summer of 2017. Exhumation will be completed within the next few years. Following exhumation completion, an evapotranspiration barrier (or cap) will be constructed over the entire landfill. Fluor Idaho continues to make progress on a more challenging project involving an inventory of RH-TRU waste that also contains the reactive metal sodium. Crews are utilizing hot cells, once used for spent nuclear fuel reprocessing and high-level waste treatment at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center, to render this challenging waste form safe for disposal in a national geologic waste repository. The treatment methods being employed on this RH-TRU waste are unique in the DOE Complex. Minute concentrations of water are sprayed onto the sodium-contaminated material in a process called 'spritzing' to chemically change the sodium from a reactive metal to a non-reactive salt. In other cases, sodium-contaminated waste is dipped in water to initiate a reaction in a process called 'immersion.' Lastly, for more challenging waste shapes that could not be successfully treated with the two prior methods, crews lower the sodium-contaminated RH-TRU waste into a one-of-a-kind distillation unit that uses high temperature and vacuum to volatilize the sodium and recapture it in a condenser unit for disposal. The RH-TRU waste treated with this technology is then safe for permanent disposal. Fluor Idaho is proud to operate DOE's CH- and RH-TRU waste treatment facilities, as well as use innovative processes and its talented workforce to complete this important work-scope. Such capabilities allow the contractor to meet the commitments made by the DOE to the state of Idaho. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Idaho-Developed Technologies, Processes Offer Unique Solutions to Waste Management Challenges - 19281

INL Site cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho, LLC (Fluor Idaho) and its predecessors have developed a host of state-of-the-art technologies and specialized processes for nuclear waste handling, treatment, storage, and shipping. The cleanup program has also repurposed and upgraded previously idled Cold War-era buildings to treat and repackage both on- and off-site generated radioactive and hazardous wastes. And lastly, Fluor Idaho is using one-of-a-kind equipment to protect waste management personnel as they undertake their work to meet cleanup commitments that the Department of Energy (DOE) made to the state of Idaho. Such applications, although developed for Idaho's wastes, have the potential to benefit other facilities within the DOE Complex. Engineers and fabricators have teamed up to develop truly unique devices made of specialized metals, like stainless steel alloys, and more readily available materials such as Lexan. All waste types that Fluor Idaho manages daily - spent nuclear fuel, both high- and low-level wastes, and both remote-handled (RH) and CH-TRU - benefit from these innovations. Without question, the greatest number of specialized equipment, processes, and worker-protection technologies developed are for the retrieving, characterizing, repackaging, and shipping of TRU wastes, which makes sense considering the INL Site stores the most TRU waste in the DOE Complex. On the CH-TRU retrieval front, crews are using specially modified Gradall excavators to protect workers while they exhume Rocky Flats Plant wastes that were sent to Idaho in the 1950's and 1960's and buried in a shallow landfill. The excavators are supplied with extra Lexan windows to protect operators from the potential for flying debris during exhumation. On-board supplied air, pumped into the cab, and individual air supplies protect workers from inhalation hazards. Also on-board infrared cameras allow operators to detect heat generating from reactive metals at the dig face. At the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility (AMWTP), Brokk robotic arm operators use a 'super clam' claw, designed and built at the INL Site, on the remotely operated heavy equipment to size-reduce waste boxes, drums, concrete, and metal containing TRU constituents. The super clam is so powerful and dexterous that operators can crush a 55-gallon drum into the size of a basketball, but also delicately turn the pages of a magazine. Boxes too large to be sized at the AMWTP's box-lines are sent to the Accelerated Retrieval Project VII facility to be sized by Waste Management personnel. Such waste boxes, which sometimes contain 'flighty' plutonium-238 material, have forced the project to employ a heavily ventilated and filtered interior tent. Not all technologies developed for the Waste Management program are high-technology; in fact, one piece of equipment is so simple it's literally ingenious. Operators who inspect and repackage RH-TRU inside a hot cell at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) needed a backup plan in case the hot cell port couldn't be closed in the event of a power outage. Engineers and fabricators collaborated to develop a port cover actuator mechanism, which allows operators to open and close the cell's hatch cover with nothing more than a cordless drill. Also at INTEC, Maintenance Shop fabricators developed a Lexan container or 'pig' suitable for shielding neutron-emitting TRU waste sources. Lexan was chosen as the preferred shielded container material for this special type of waste because neutrons are best shielded with materials containing lots of hydrogen, such as plastics, which are composed of carbon and hydrogen molecules. Once approved for shipment, the high-activity waste will be loaded into specialty casks and shipped to WIPP for permanent disposal. Although all these technologies and processes were initially developed for resolving challenges at the INL Site, their applications could be far-reaching. Like the INL Site, many other facilities in the DOE Complex manage, treat, store, and ship TRU, low-and high-level wastes, and spent nuclear fuel. The technologies and processes developed in Idaho protect Waste Management personnel as they undertake their work, but these benefits could be utilized by other facilities and personnel doing similar work. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2012

An Overview of Project Planning for Hot-Isostatic Pressure Treatment of High-Level Waste Calcine for the Idaho Cleanup Project - 12289

The Calcine Disposition Project is responsible for retrieval, treatment by hot-isostatic pressure, packaging, and disposal of highly radioactive calcine stored at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center at the Idaho National Laboratory Site in southeast Idaho. In the 2009 Amended Record of Decision: Idaho High-Level Waste and Facilities Disposition Final Environmental Impact Statement the Department of Energy documented the selection of hot-isostatic pressure as the technology to treat the calcine. The Record of Decision specifies that the treatment results in a volume-reduced, monolithic waste form suitable for transport outside of Idaho by a target date of December 31, 2035. That target date is specified in the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement to treat and prepare the calcine for transport out of Idaho in exchange for allowing storage of Navy spent nuclear fuel at the INL Site. The project is completing the design of the calcine-treatment process and facility to comply with Record of Decision, Settlement Agreement, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, and Department of Energy requirements. A systems engineering approach is being used to define the project mission and requirements, manage risks, and establish the safety basis for decision making in compliance with DOE O 413.3B, 'Program and Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets'. The approach draws heavily on 'design-for-quality' tools to systematically add quality, predict design reliability, and manage variation in the earliest possible stages of design when it is most efficient. Use of these tools provides a standardized basis for interfacing systems to interact across system boundaries and promotes system integration on a facility-wide basis. A mass and energy model was developed to assist in the design of process equipment, determine material-flow parameters, and estimate process emissions. Data generated from failure modes and effects analysis and reliability, availability, maintainability, and inspectability analysis were incorporated into a time and motion model to validate and verify the capability to complete treatment of the calcine within the required schedule. The Calcine Disposition Project systems engineering approach, including use of industry-proven design-for-quality tools and quantitative assessment techniques, has strengthened the project's design capability to meet its intended mission in a safe, cost-effective, and timely manner. Use of these tools has been particularly helpful to the project in early design planning to manage variation; improve requirements and high-consequence risk management; and more effectively apply alternative, interface, failure mode, RAMI, and time and motion analyses at the earliest possible stages of design when their application is most efficient and cost effective. The project is using these tools to design and develop HIP treatment of highly radioactive calcine to produce a volume-reduced, monolithic waste form with immobilization of hazardous and radioactive constituents. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

The Contribution of Subtropical Moisture Within an Atmospheric River on Moisture Flux, Cloud Structure, and Precipitation Over the Salmon River Mountains of Idaho Using Moisture Tracers

The impact of an atmospheric river (AR) on the flux of subtropical moisture across Idaho's Salmon River Mountains and precipitation over the mountains is evaluated using the Weather, Research, and Forecasting model with water vapor tracers (WRF-WVT). The AR impacted Idaho between 17 and 19 January 2017 during the Seeded and Natural Orographic Wintertime Clouds: The Idaho Experiment (SNOWIE) campaign. WRF-WVT is configured to isolate the subtropical moisture contribution to the AR, the moisture flux, and precipitation. Subtropical water vapor advected by the AR into Idaho is tagged and tracked in three-dimensional space throughout the run. This allows the contribution of the subtropical moisture to the vertical distribution of water vapor and the precipitation to be directly calculated. The simulated cloud structure is compared with airborne radar data collected during two SNOWIE intensive operation periods. This study found that more than 70% of the moisture flux and more than 80% of the precipitation across the Idaho Mountains during SNOWIE IOP 4 could be attributed to subtropical moisture within the AR. Nearly all of the moisture flux in the upper cloud and 50% of the moisture in the lower cloud was attributable to the subtropical moisture. The subtropical moisture contribution within the AR to precipitation ranged from 35% in northern Idaho to more than 90% in southern Idaho. Across the entire period of impact of the AR, more than 60% of precipitation in Idaho was attributable to the subtropical moisture within the AR, with this percentage increasing toward the south across the state.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Panel Session 32: Panel: Bringing First-of-a-Kind Treatment Facilities On-Line: Idaho IWTU Commissioning Approach (2/5)

This panel discussed the activities of bringing a first-of-a-kind treatment facility online: The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU). The design was designed to treat 900,000 gallons of sodium-bearing liquid waste. Construction of this first-of-a-kind treatment facility was completed in 2012. A new approach was adopted in 2016 after multiple challenges were encountered during facility commissioning. This session focused on the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU), which was constructed to convert the remaining 900,000 gallons of liquid sodium-bearing waste at the Idaho National Laboratory Site, Idaho, USA, to a granular solid. The liquid waste was generated during historic spent nuclear fuel reprocessing campaigns at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center and was transferred to three underground storage tanks. The waste was not first-cycle waste but was rather the liquid rinse waste from flushing waste transfer lines between reprocessing runs. IWTU will employ a steam-reforming process to treat the liquid waste. The resulting granular solid will be transferred to stainless steel canisters and then to concrete vaults, which will be stored on site until an off-site national geologic repository is available to accept the waste. Presentation proposed: Bringing First-of-a-Kind Treatment Facilities On-Line: Idaho IWTU Commissioning Approach (Joel Case, US DOE (USA), Leo Thompson, Sterling Engineering and Consulting Group, LLC (USA), Joseph Giebel, Fluor Idaho, LLC (USA), Richard Boardman, Idaho National Laboratory (USA), Kevin O'Neill, US DOE (USA))

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗