skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Enhanced LAW Glass Correlation - Phase 1

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1347604· OSTI ID:1347604
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. The Catholic Univ. of America, Washington, DC (United States). Vitreous State Lab.
  2. Atkins Energy Federal EPC, Inc., Columbia, MD (United States)

About 50 million gallons of high-level mixed waste is currently stored in underground tanks at the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Hanford site in the State of Washington. The Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) will provide DOE’s Office of River Protection (ORP) with a means of treating this waste by vitrification for subsequent disposal. The tank waste will be separated into low- and high-activity waste fractions, which will then be vitrified respectively into Immobilized Low Activity Waste (ILAW) and Immobilized High Level Waste (IHLW) products. The ILAW product will be disposed in an engineered facility on the Hanford site while the IHLW product is designed for acceptance into a national deep geological disposal facility for high-level nuclear waste. The ILAW and IHLW products must meet a variety of requirements with respect to protection of the environment before they can be accepted for disposal. Acceptable glass formulations for vitrification of Hanford low activity waste (LAW) must meet a variety of product quality, processability, and waste loading requirements. To this end, The Vitreous State Laboratory (VSL) at The Catholic University of America (CUA) developed and tested a number of glass formulations during Part A, Part B1 and Part B2 of the WTP development program. The testing resulted in the selection of target glass compositions for the processing of eight of the Phase I LAW tanks. The selected glass compositions were tested at the crucible scale to confirm their compliance with ILAW performance requirements. Duramelter 100 (DM100) and LAW Pilot Melter tests were then conducted to demonstrate the viability of these glass compositions for LAW vitrification at high processing rates.

Research Organization:
The Catholic Univ. of America, Washington, DC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM)
Contributing Organization:
Atkins Energy Federal EPC, Inc., Columbia, MD (United States); USDOE Office of River Protection, Richland, WA (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC27-08RV14800
OSTI ID:
1347604
Report Number(s):
ORP-60674; VSL-16R4000-1
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English