Treatment of DOE mixed wastes using commercial facilities
- Ecotek, Inc., Erwin, TN (United States)
In a demonstration program, Department of Energy (DOE) solid mixed wastes generated during uranium processing operations are characterized to define the unit operations required for treatment. The objectives included the implementation of these treatment operations utilizing a commercial Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (TSDF). In contracting for commercial hazardous and mixed waste treatment, it is important to characterize the waste beyond the identification of toxicity characteristic (TC) and radiological content. Performing treatability studies and verification of all the unit operations required for treatment is critical. The stream selected for this program was TC hazardous for barium (D005) and contaminated with both depleted and low enriched uranium. The program resulted in the generation of characterization data and treatment strategies. The characterization and treatability studies indicated that although a common unit operation was required to remove the toxic characteristic, multiple pretreatment operations were needed. Many of these operations do not exist at available TSDF`s, rendering some portions of the stream untreatable using existing commercial TSDF`s. For this project the need for pretreatment operations resulted in only a portion of the waste originally targeted for treatment being accepted for treatment at a commercial TSDF. The majority of the targeted stream could not be successfully treated due to lack of an off-site commercial treatment facility having the available equipment and capacity or with the correct combination of RCRA permits and radioactive material handling licenses. This paper presents a case study documenting the results of the project.
- Research Organization:
- Westinghouse Environmental Management Co. of Ohio, Cincinnati, OH (United States). Fernald Environmental Management Project; Ecotek, Inc., Erwin, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-86OR21600
- OSTI ID:
- 10126972
- Report Number(s):
- FEMP/SUB-042; CONF-920307-38; ON: DE92008658
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Waste management `92,Tucson, AZ (United States),1-5 Mar 1992; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1992
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Characterization of DOE mixed waste for treatment at commercial facilities
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