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Title: Tank waste remediation system high-level waste feed processability assessment report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/48609· OSTI ID:48609
 [1];  [2]
  1. Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)

This study evaluates the effect of feed composition on the performance of the high-level vitrification process. It is assumed in this study that the tank wastes are retrieved and blended by tank farms, producing 12 different blends from the single-shell tank farms, two blends of double-shell tank waste, and a separately defined all-tank blend. This blending scenario was chosen only for evaluating the impact of composition on the volume of high- level waste glass produced. Special glass compositions were formulated for each waste blend based on glass property models and the properties of similar glasses. These glasses were formulated to meet the applicable viscosity, electrical conductivity, and liquidus temperature constraints for the identified candidate melters. Candidate melters in this study include the low-temperature stirred melter, which operates at 1050{degrees}C; the reference Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant liquid-fed ceramic melter, which operates at 1150{degrees}C; and the high-temperature, joule-heated melter and the cold-crucible melter, which operate over a temperature range of 1150{degrees}C to 1400{degrees}C. In the most conservative case, it is estimated that 61,000 MT of glass will be produced if the Site`s high-level wastes are retrieved by tank farms and processed in the reference joule-heated melter. If an all-tank blend was processed under the same conditions, the reference melter would produce 21,250 MT of glass. If cross-tank blending were used, it is anticipated that $2.0 billion could be saved in repository disposal costs (based on an average disposal cost of $217,000 per canister) by blending the S, SX, B, and T Tank Farm wastes with other wastes prior to vitrification. General blending among all the tank farms is expected to produce great potential benefit.

Research Organization:
Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-87RL10930
OSTI ID:
48609
Report Number(s):
WHC-SP-1143; ON: DE95008029; TRN: 95:010884
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Dec 1994
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English