Polyethylene waste form: Evaluation of explosion and fire hazards. Final report
- New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM (United States). Center for Explosives Technology Research
A Proposed polyethylene waste form consists of a hot-extruded, non-porous mix of equal weights of polyethylene and granular sodium nitrate, slightly contaminated with heavy metal salts. The experiments and theoretical analysis detailed in this report were done to evaluate the risks for self-accelerating thermal decomposition, explosion, and detonation of polyethylene mixed with sodium nitrate. The study included the proposed waste form as specified and also several deviations from the specified composition and density, which could conceivably occur as a result of deficiencies in processing. The results indicate that the proposed polyethylene waste form, even including wide deviations from the specified composition and density, is a non-explosive, safe material to produce and transport by rail and road. It will not by itself cause explosion or detonation even if stored in a very large quantity, such as many tens of millions of pounds, provided the storage is free from any sources of large scale fire, such as wood or other solid combustible materials, containers of liquid or gaseous flammable fuels. The investigation included computer calculations using the TIGER code with BKW-R parameters to determine the detonation characteristics of the waste form assuming steady state detonation and complete reaction. Calculations using the NITRODYNE code were made to determine the explosion energy and equivalent weight of ANFO (ammonium nitrate mixed with fuel oil) for equal blasting performance. Experiments were made to further explore and determine the detonability (NSWC`s Expanded Large Scale Gap Test), decomposition temperature, time-to-explosion or time-to-decomposition (Henkin-McGill tests), critical temperature for runaway thermal decomposition (one-liter cook-off test), and the risk for explosion when the material is heated in a strong steel confinement (United Nations ``SCB`` closed bomb test).
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States); New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM (United States). Center for Explosives Technology Research
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 10138278
- Report Number(s):
- LA-SUB-93-21; ON: DE93008470; IN: CETR-FR-91-03
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 8 Jun 1991
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Nonideal thermoequilibrium calculations using a large product species data base
Explosively produced fracture of oil shale. Progress report, October-December 1979
Related Subjects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
WASTE FORMS
CHEMICAL EXPLOSIONS
FIRE HAZARDS
POLYETHYLENES
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
DETONATIONS
T CODES
PROGRESS REPORT
SODIUM NITRATES
EVALUATION
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
SAFETY
TESTING
052002
054000
WASTE DISPOSAL AND STORAGE
HEALTH AND SAFETY