Polymer systems testing: Final report
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is in the process of decontaminating lead shielding material. The procedure involves abrasive surface etching of the shielding to remove the outer layer of lead that contains the majority of the radioactive contaminants. This procedure generates a small volume of mixed waste in the form of a wet residue containing lead, abrasive grit (Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}), uranium and water. IC Technologies, Inc. (ICT) has developed several processes for the treatment of mixed wastes involving stabilizing/encapsulating the waste in a polymer monolith. The objective of the test program was to verify the applicability of ICT`s technology to this specific waste stream and provide LANL baseline data on the performance of polymer encapsulation techniques. Polymer microencapsulation of lead shielding/blasting grit (surrogate) mixed waste was evaluated. Two polymers, melamine formaldehyde and polyester xylene, were used to examine the effect of waste loading on Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) extract Pb concentration. Six levels of waste loading were evaluated by eleven tests. Significant reduction in Pb solubility during TCLP was achieved. Additional optimization to the single-stage microencapsulation technique utilized will be necessary to mitigate the toxic (RCRA) characteristic of the waste.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States); Industrial Compliance Technologies, Inc., Wheat Ridge, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 10186019
- Report Number(s):
- LA-SUB--94-116; ON: DE94019171
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
DECONTAMINATION
ENCAPSULATION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
MATERIALS TESTING
MIXTURES
PERFORMANCE TESTING
POLYMERS
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SHIELDING MATERIALS
SURFACE CLEANING
WASTE FORMS
WASTE PROCESSING