Chemical engineering challenges of nuclear waste cleanup: The future in tank processing
- Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA (United States)
The 103 million gallons of mixed chemical and radioactive waste in DOE`s 241 underground storage tanks are as complex and heterogenous a material as man has ever created. The future of tank waste processing - of all waste processing - lies in establishing programs that integrate the interdisciplinary efforts of basic, applied, and process scientists at every stage of the technology development and deployment life cycle. In this way, a technically broad based foundation is developed that allows scientifically-sound and technically-defensible decisions to be made regarding waste remediation. In DOE`s national tank waste remediation technology development programs, Tanks Focus Area, we have begun to establish these activities. Examples of these, which will be discussed, include a tank process chemistry effort which focuses on developing an understanding of the chemical and physical properties of tank wastes affecting the development of process technologies, particularly the colloidal properties of the waste; a process control effort which applies this information to generate the chemical intelligence and understanding necessary to make informed decisions on how to use technology to remediate tank wastes and includes sensor and micro scale analytical methods development; and an aggressive effort in waste forms to develop a fundamental understanding of structure-function-performance relations in potential inorganic ion exchange materials and glasses.
- OSTI ID:
- 370545
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960376-; TRN: 96:003805-0598
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), New Orleans, LA (United States), 24-28 Mar 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of 211th ACS national meeting; PB: 2284 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Stakeholder-Engaged Structured Decision Making for the Los Alamos Legacy Cleanup Mission - 20501
Tank Waste Retrieval Lessons Learned at the Hanford Site