Successful Waste Treatment Methods at Sandia National Laboratories
During the remediation of the waste landfills at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico nine drums of mock high explosives were generated. This mixed waste stream was proposed to several offsite vendors for treatment and prices ranged from $2.50 to $10 per gram a total cost estimated to be in excess of $2 million dollars. This cost represents more than 30 percent of the annual budget for the Sandia Waste Management Operations. Concentrated solutions of common oxidizers, such as nitrates, nitrites, and peroxides, will also act as oxidizers and will give positive results in the Hazard Categorization oxidizer test. These solutions carry an EPA Hazardous Waste Number D001, Ignitable Waste, and Oxidizer as defined in 49 CFR 173.151. Sandia decided that given budget and time constraints to meet a Federal Facilities Compliance Act milestone, a process for onsite treatment should be evaluated. Clean samples of mock high explosive materials were obtained from Pantex excess inventory and treatability studies initiated to develop a treatment formula and process. The following process was developed and implemented in the summer of 2006: - Size reduction to allow for dissolution of the barium nitrate in water; - Dissolution of the Mock HE in water; - Deactivation of the oxidizer; - Stabilization of the barium and the cadmium contamination present as an underlying hazardous constituent. This project was completed and the treatment milestone achieved for less than $300,000. The Disassembly Sanitization Operation (DSO) is a process that was implemented to support weapon disassembly and disposition using recycling and waste minimization while achieving the demilitarization mission. The Department of Energy is faced with disassembling and disposition of a huge inventory of retired weapons, components, training equipment, spare parts, and weapon maintenance equipment. Environmental regulations have caused a dramatic increase for information needed to support the disposal and handling of these parts and materials. Manufacturing information from past decades often does not meet the needs for regulatory decisions of today to assure proper management of weapons components. Huge inventories of classified weapon components were required to have long-term storage at Sandia and many other locations throughout the complex. These materials are stored because they are classified, they may also contain radiological and/or hazardous components and disposal options may not have existed for this material. Long-term storage is costly and somewhat problematic. It requires a secured storage area, monitoring, auditing and it also has the potential for loss or theft of this material. Overall recycling rates for materials sent through the DSO process have enabled 70 to 80% of these components to be recycled. These components are made to extreme standards and are made of high quality materials. Once the material has been sanitized, the demand for these metals is very high. The DSO process for the NGPF classified components established the credibility of this technique as a viable process for addressing the long-term storage requirements of classified weapons component inventory. The success of this operation has generated interest from other Sandia Organization other locations throughout the complex. Other organizations are soliciting the help of the DSO team and the DSO is responding to these solicitations by expanding its scope to include work for other projects. For example, Pantex has asked the DSO team to assist with the destruction of their classified components. The operation is full scale and continues to grow and serve SNL/NM and DoE by providing a solution to this evolving issue. On an ongoing basis, SNL has been incurring expenses for the management and storage of classified components. It is estimated that this project will save the DoE and Sandia several hundreds of thousands of dollars until the excess inventory is eliminated. This innovative approach eliminates the need for long-term storage of classified weapons components and the associated accounting. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9 - 332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21305423
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-09-WM-07421; TRN: US10V0284049615
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM'07: Waste Management Symposium 2007 - Global Accomplishments in Environmental and Radioactive Waste Management: Education and Opportunity for the Next Generation of Waste Management Professionals, Tucson, AZ (United States), 25 Feb - 1 Mar 2007; Other Information: Country of input: France
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
BARIUM NITRATES
CADMIUM
CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES
DEACTIVATION
NEW MEXICO
NITRITES
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
PEROXIDES
POLLUTION REGULATIONS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
REMEDIAL ACTION
SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES
SANITARY LANDFILLS
US EPA
WASTES