Degradation of transuranic waste drums in underground storage
- Westinghouse Hanford Company, Richland, WA (United States)
The Hanford site is one of several U.S. Department of Energy locations that has transuranic radioactive Waste in storage, resulting from nuclear weapons material production. Transuranic waste has extremely long-lived radionuclides requiring great care in management; such waste is slated for eventual disposal in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Most of this waste is stored in 208-{ell} (55-gal) drums below ground. At the Hanford site 37 641 drums are stored in several trenches. The drums were stacked up to five high with plywood sheeting between the layers and on top of the stacks. Plastic tarps were used to cover the drums and the plywood, with several feet of earth backfilled on top of the plastic. A fraction of the drums ({approximately}20%) were covered only with earth, not with plywood and plastic. The drums are either painted low-carbon steel or galvanized low-carbon steel. They have been placed in storage from 1970 to 1988, resulting in between 7 and 25 yr of storage. The environment is either soil or air atmosphere. The air atmosphere environment also includes, for some drum surfaces, contact with the underside of the tarp. The temperature of the air atmosphere is relatively uniform. Year-round measurements have not been taken, but available data suggest that the temperature span should be from {approximately} 10 to 30{degrees}C (50 to 86{degrees}F). Humidity in underground storage module mock-ups has been measured at nearly 90% during testing in the summer months. Subsequent tests have shown that the humidity probably drops to 50 to 60% during other seasons. This report describes results of a project to inspect the condition of the waste drums.
- OSTI ID:
- 186299
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950601-; ISSN 0003-018X; TRN: 95:004729-0071
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Vol. 72; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), Philadelphia, PA (United States), 25-29 Jun 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Degradation of transuranic waste drums in underground storage at the Hanford Site
Degradation of transuranic waste drums in underground storage at the Hanford Site