Alternative Chemical Cleaning Methods for High Level Waste Tanks: Simulant Studies
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)
Solubility testing with simulated High Level Waste tank heel solids has been conducted in order to evaluate two alternative chemical cleaning technologies for the dissolution of sludge residuals remaining in the tanks after the exhaustion of mechanical cleaning and sludge washing efforts. Tests were conducted with non-radioactive pure phase metal reagents, binary mixtures of reagents, and a Savannah River Site PUREX heel simulant to determine the effectiveness of an optimized, dilute oxalic/nitric acid cleaning reagent and pure, dilute nitric acid toward dissolving the bulk non-radioactive waste components. A focus of this testing was on minimization of oxalic acid additions during tank cleaning. For comparison purposes, separate samples were also contacted with pure, concentrated oxalic acid which is the current baseline chemical cleaning reagent. In a separate study, solubility tests were conducted with radioactive tank heel simulants using acidic and caustic permanganate-based methods focused on the “targeted” dissolution of actinide species known to be drivers for Savannah River Site tank closure Performance Assessments. Permanganate-based cleaning methods were evaluated prior to and after oxalic acid contact.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC09-08SR22470
- OSTI ID:
- 1233732
- Report Number(s):
- SRNL-STI-2015-00517; TRN: US1600207
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CLEANING
OXALIC ACID
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
TANKS
NITRIC ACID
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
PERMANGANATES
REAGENTS
BINARY MIXTURES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
NONRADIOACTIVE WASTES
DISSOLUTION
MINIMIZATION
SLUDGES
SOLUBILITY
TESTING
PERFORMANCE
SIMULATION
SOLIDS