Development of a combined soil-wash/in-furnace vitrification system for soil remediation at DOE sites. Final report

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10107334· OSTI ID:10107334

Pegg, I L; Guo, Y; Lahoda, E J; Lai, Shan-Tao; Muller, I S; Ruller, J ^[1]; Grant, D C ^[2]

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1. GTS Duratek, Columbia, MD (United States)
2. Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Science and Technology Center

This report addresses research and development of technologies for treatment of radioactive and hazardous waste streams at DOE sites. Weldon Spring raffinate sludges were used in a direct vitrification study to investigate their use as fluxing agents in glass formulations when blended with site soil. Storm sewer sediments from the Oak Ridge, TN, Y-12 facility were used for soil washing followed by vitrification of the concentrates. Both waste streams were extensively characterized. Testing showed that both mercury and uranium could be removed from the Y-12 soil by chemical extraction resulting in an 80% volume reduction. Thermal desorption was used on the contaminant-enriched minority fraction to separate the mercury from the uranium. Vitrification tests demonstrated that high waste loading glasses could be produced from the radioactive stream and from the Weldon Spring wastes which showed very good leach resistance, and viscosities and electrical conductivities in the range suitable for joule-heated ceramic melter (JHCM) processing. The conceptual process described combines soil washing, thermal desorption, and vitrification to produce clean soil (about 90% of the input waste stream), non-radioactive mercury, and a glass wasteform; the estimated processing costs for that system are about $260--$400/yd{sup 3}. Results from continuous melter tests performed using Duratek`s advanced JHCM (Duramelter) system are also presented. Since life cycle cost estimates are driven largely by volume reduction considerations, the large volume reductions possible with these multi-technology, blended waste stream approaches can produce a more leach resistant wasteform at a lower overall cost than alternative technologies such as cementation.

• Research Organization: GTS Duratek, Columbia, MD (United States); Catholic Univ. of America, Washington, DC (United States). Vitreous State Lab.; Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (United States). Science and Technology Center
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 10107334
• Report Number(s): DOE/CH-9204; ON: DE94003661; TRN: 94:008398
• Resource Relation: Other Information: PBD: Jan 1993
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
SOILS
REMEDIAL ACTION
DECONTAMINATION
MERCURY
REMOVAL
URANIUM
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Y-12 PLANT
VITRIFICATION
WASHING
DESORPTION
COST
VOLUME
MINIMIZATION
GLASS
WASTE FORMS
540230
540220
540250
054000
052001
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
CHEMICALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
SITE RESOURCE AND USE STUDIES
HEALTH AND SAFETY
WASTE PROCESSING