Progress in Resolving Hanford Site High-Level Waste Tank Safety Issues
- Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)
Interim storage of alkaline, high-level radioactive waste, from two generations of spent fuel reprocessing and waste management activities, has resulted in the accumulation of 238 million liters of waste in Hanford Site single and double-shell tanks. Before the 1990`s, the stored waste was believed to be: (1) chemically unreactive under its existing storage conditions and plausible accident scenarios; and (2) chemically stable. This paradigm was proven incorrect when detailed evaluation of tank contents and behavior revealed a number of safety issues and that the waste was generating flammable and noxious gases. In 1990, the Waste Tank Safety Program was formed to focus on identifying safety issues and resolving the ferrocyanide, flammable gas, organic, high heat, noxious vapor, and criticality issues. The tanks of concern were placed on Watch Lists by safety issue. This paper summarizes recent progress toward resolving Hanford Site high-level radioactive waste tank safety issues, including modeling, and analyses, laboratory experiments, monitoring upgrades, mitigation equipment, and developing a strategy to screen tanks for safety issues.
- Research Organization:
- Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-87RL10930
- OSTI ID:
- 28237
- Report Number(s):
- WHC-SA--2639; CONF-950216--55; ON: DE95007780
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
42 ENGINEERING
Analyses
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CRITICALITY
FERROCYANIDES
GAS ANALYSIS
HANFORD RESERVATION
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
HYDROGEN
Laboratory Experiments
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MONITORS
Mitigation Equipment
Modeling
Monitoring Upgrades
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION CONTROL EQUIPMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
SAFETY ENGINEERING
TEMPERATURE CONTROL
TOXIC MATERIALS
VOLATILE MATTER