Estimated Maximum Gas Retention from Uniformly Dispersed Bubbles in K Basin Sludge Stored in Large-Diameter Containers

Technical Report · Wed May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/15001321· OSTI ID:15001321

Gauglitz, Phillip A; Terrones, Guillermo

This letter report addresses the KE Basin sludge that will be retrieved and stored in large-diameter containers (LDCs.) A fraction of the hydrogen gas bubbles generated from the corrosion of uranium metal and oxides may be retained within the sludge matrix. Those entrapped bubbles will expand the sludge bed volume and, therefore, will affect how much sludge can be loaded into a container. The entrapped gas bubbles will also impact the overall thermal conductivity and heat capacity of the sludge bed. The evaluation summarized here was performed to estimate the maximum gas holdup (volume fraction gas) that could occur sludge stored in large-diameter containers, assuming uniform gas generation (i.e., uniform distribution of metallic uranium particles). This report represents an evaluation of the retention of uniformly distributed bubbles and an estimate of the maximum gas fraction that might be retained in K Basin LDCs based on existing literature data on bubble retention and Basin sludge characterization data. Existing data show that the maximum gas fraction varies, depending on physical properties and the configuration of the material or waste.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 15001321
• Report Number(s): PNNL-13893; 820201000; TRN: US0400295
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
BUBBLES
CONFIGURATION
CONTAINERS
CORROSION
DISTRIBUTION
EVALUATION
HYDROGEN
OXIDES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RETENTION
SLUDGES
SPECIFIC HEAT
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
URANIUM
K East Basin
KE Basin
K Basin
Sludge
Sludge Storage
Large Diameter Container
gas
gas retention
gas hold-up
gas generation
uniform gas generation
void fraction
safety basis
volume expansion
uranium corrosion
hydrogen generation
shear strength
yield strength
capillary force