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Title: Washing and caustic leaching of Hanford tank sludge: Results of FY 1997 studies

Abstract

The current plan for remediating the Hanford tank farms consists of waste retrieval, pretreatment, treatment (immobilization), and disposal. The tank wastes will be partitioned into high-level and low-level fractions. The HLW will be immobilized in a borosilicate glass matrix; the resulting glass canisters will then be disposed of in a geologic repository. Because of the expected high cost of HLW vitrification and geologic disposal, pretreatment processes will be implemented to reduce the volume of immobilized high-level waste (IHLW). Caustic leaching (sometimes referred to as enhanced sludge washing or ESW) represents the baseline method for pretreating Hanford tank sludges. Caustic leaching is expected to remove a large fraction of the Al, which is present in large quantities in Hanford tank sludges. A significant portion of the P is also expected to be removed from the sludge by metathesis of water-insoluble metal phosphates to insoluble hydroxides and soluble Na{sub 3}PO{sub 4}. Similar metathesis reactions can occur for insoluble sulfate salts, allowing the removal of sulfate from the HLW stream. This report describes the sludge washing and caustic leaching tests performed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in FY 1996. The sludges used in this study were taken from Hanford tanks AN-104, BY-108,more » S-101, and S-111.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
563225
Report Number(s):
PNNL-11636
ON: DE97054183; BR: EW4010000; TRN: 98:003173
DOE Contract Number:  
AC06-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Aug 1997
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
05 NUCLEAR FUELS; SLUDGES; ALKALINE HYDROLYSIS; HANFORD RESERVATION; STORAGE FACILITIES; REMEDIAL ACTION; RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE; HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES; RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING; ALUMINIUM; REMOVAL; PHOSPHORUS; SULFATES; CHROMIUM; SODIUM HYDROXIDES; EXPERIMENTAL DATA

Citation Formats

Lumetta, G J, Burgeson, I E, Wagner, M J, Liu, J, and Chen, Y L. Washing and caustic leaching of Hanford tank sludge: Results of FY 1997 studies. United States: N. p., 1997. Web. doi:10.2172/563225.
Lumetta, G J, Burgeson, I E, Wagner, M J, Liu, J, & Chen, Y L. Washing and caustic leaching of Hanford tank sludge: Results of FY 1997 studies. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/563225
Lumetta, G J, Burgeson, I E, Wagner, M J, Liu, J, and Chen, Y L. 1997. "Washing and caustic leaching of Hanford tank sludge: Results of FY 1997 studies". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/563225. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/563225.
@article{osti_563225,
title = {Washing and caustic leaching of Hanford tank sludge: Results of FY 1997 studies},
author = {Lumetta, G J and Burgeson, I E and Wagner, M J and Liu, J and Chen, Y L},
abstractNote = {The current plan for remediating the Hanford tank farms consists of waste retrieval, pretreatment, treatment (immobilization), and disposal. The tank wastes will be partitioned into high-level and low-level fractions. The HLW will be immobilized in a borosilicate glass matrix; the resulting glass canisters will then be disposed of in a geologic repository. Because of the expected high cost of HLW vitrification and geologic disposal, pretreatment processes will be implemented to reduce the volume of immobilized high-level waste (IHLW). Caustic leaching (sometimes referred to as enhanced sludge washing or ESW) represents the baseline method for pretreating Hanford tank sludges. Caustic leaching is expected to remove a large fraction of the Al, which is present in large quantities in Hanford tank sludges. A significant portion of the P is also expected to be removed from the sludge by metathesis of water-insoluble metal phosphates to insoluble hydroxides and soluble Na{sub 3}PO{sub 4}. Similar metathesis reactions can occur for insoluble sulfate salts, allowing the removal of sulfate from the HLW stream. This report describes the sludge washing and caustic leaching tests performed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in FY 1996. The sludges used in this study were taken from Hanford tanks AN-104, BY-108, S-101, and S-111.},
doi = {10.2172/563225},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/563225}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997},
month = {Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997}
}