THERMAL MODELING ANALYSIS OF CST MEDIA IN THE SMALL COLUMN ION EXCHANGE PROJECT
Models have been developed to simulate the thermal characteristics of Crystalline Silicotitanate (CST) ion exchange media fully loaded with radioactive cesium in a column configuration and distributed within a waste storage tank. This work was conducted to support the Small Column Ion Exchange (SCIX) program which is focused on processing dissolved, high-sodium salt waste for the removal of specific radionuclides (including Cs-137, Sr-90, and actinides) within a High Level Waste (HLW) storage tank at the Savannah River Site. The SCIX design includes CST columns inserted and supported in the tank top risers for cesium removal. Temperature distributions and maximum temperatures across the column were calculated with a focus on process upset conditions. A two-dimensional computational modeling approach for the in-column ion-exchange domain was taken to include conservative, bounding estimates for key parameters such that the results would provide the maximum centerline temperatures achievable under the design configurations using a feed composition known to promote high cesium loading on CST. One salt processing scenario includes the transport of the loaded (and possibly ground) CST media to the treatment tank floor. Therefore, additional thermal modeling calculations were conducted using a three-dimensional approach to evaluate temperature distributions for the entire in-tank domain including distribution of the spent CST media either as a mound or a flat layer on the tank floor. These calculations included mixtures of CST with HLW sludge or loaded Monosodium Titanate (MST) media used for strontium/actinide sorption. The current full-scale design for the CST column includes one central cooling pipe and four outer cooling tubes. Most calculations assumed that the fluid within the column was stagnant (i.e. no buoyancy-induced flow) for a conservative estimate. A primary objective of these calculations was to estimate temperature distributions across packed CST beds immersed in waste supernate or filled with dry air under various accident scenarios. Accident scenarios evaluated included loss of salt solution flow through the bed (a primary heat transfer mechanism), inadvertent column drainage, and loss of active cooling in the column. The calculation results showed that for a wet CST column with active cooling through one central and four outer tubes and 35 C ambient external air, the peak temperature for the fully-loaded column is about 63 C under the loss of fluid flow accident, which is well below the supernate boiling point. The peak temperature for the naturally-cooled (no active, engineered cooling) wet column is 156 C under fully-loaded conditions, exceeding the 130 C boiling point. Under these conditions, supernate boiling would maintain the column temperature near 130 C until all supernate was vaporized. Without active engineered cooling and assuming a dry column suspended in unventilated air at 35 C, the fully-loaded column is expected to rise to a maximum of about 258 C due to the combined loss-of coolant and column drainage accidents. The modeling results demonstrate that the baseline design using one central and four outer cooling tubes provides a highly efficient cooling mechanism for reducing the maximum column temperature. Results for the in-tank modeling calculations clearly indicate that when realistic heat transfer boundary conditions are imposed on the bottom surface of the tank wall, as much as 450 gallons of ground CST (a volume equivalent to two ion exchange processing cycles) in an ideal hemispherical shape (the most conservative geometry) can be placed in the tank without exceeding the 100 C wall temperature limit. Furthermore, in the case of an evenly-distributed flat layer, the tank wall reaches the temperature limit after the ground CST material reaches a height of approximately 8 inches.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC09-08SR22470
- OSTI ID:
- 1016381
- Report Number(s):
- SRNL-STI-2010-00570; TRN: US1103129
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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