Water washes and caustic leaches of sludge from Hanford Tank S-101 and water washes of sludge from Hanford Tank C-103
In 1993, the Department of Energy (DOE) selected the enhanced sludge washing (ESW) process as the baseline for pretreatment of Hanford tank sludges. The ESW process uses a series of water washes and caustic leaches to separate nonradioactive components such as aluminum, chromium, and phosphate from the high-level waste sludges. If the ESW process is successful, the volume of immobilized high-level waste will be significantly reduced. The tests on the sludge from Hanford Tank S-101 focused on the effects of process variables such as sodium hydroxide concentration (1 and 3 M), temperature (70 and 95 C), and leaching time (5, 24, 72, and 168 h) on the efficacy of the ESW process with realistic liquid-to-solid ratios. Another goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of water washes on a sludge sample from hanford Tank C-103. The final objective of this study was to test potential process control monitors during the water washes and caustic leaches with actual sludge. Both {sup 137}Cs activity and conductance were measured for each of the water washes and caustic leaches. Experimental procedures, a discussion of results, conclusions and recommendations are included in this report.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-96OR22464
- OSTI ID:
- 290831
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/TM--13655; ON: DE99000342
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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