Assessing mixed waste treatment technologies

Conference · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994

OSTI ID:10155595

Berry, J B; Bloom, G A ^[1]; Hart, P W ^[2]

---

1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
2. USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for the management and treatment of its mixed low-level wastes (MLLW). As discussed earlier in this conference MLLW are regulated under both the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and various DOE orders. During the next 5 years, DOE will manage over 1,200,000 m{sup 3} of MLLW and mixed transuranic (MTRU) waste at 50 sites in 22 states (see Table 1). The difference between MLLW and MTRU waste is in the concentration of elements that have a higher atomic weight than uranium. Nearly all of this waste will be located at 13 sites. More than 1400 individual mixed waste streams exist with different chemical and physical matrices containing a wide range of both hazardous and radioactive contaminants. Their containment and packaging vary widely (e.g., drums, bins, boxes, and buried waste). This heterogeneity in both packaging and waste stream constituents makes characterization difficult, which results in costly sampling and analytical procedures and increased risk to workers.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 10155595
• Report Number(s): CONF-9404160--1; ON: DE94012658
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052000
052001
052002
054000
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ENCAPSULATION
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
HEALTH AND SAFETY
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MERCURY
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
OFF-GAS SYSTEMS
PUBLIC RELATIONS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
US DOE
VITRIFICATION
WASTE DISPOSAL AND STORAGE
WASTE FORMS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING