Tank 241-Z-361 process and characterization history
An Unreviewed Safety Question (Wagoner, 1997) was declared based on lack of adequate authorization basis for Tank 241-Z-361 in the 200W Area at Hanford. This document is a summary of the history of Tank 241-Z-361 through December 1997. Documents reviewed include engineering files, laboratory notebooks from characterization efforts, waste facility process procedures, supporting documents and interviews of people`s recollections of over twenty years ago. Records of transfers into the tank, past characterization efforts, and speculation were used to estimate the current condition of Tank 241-Z-361 and its contents. Information about the overall waste system as related to the settling tank was included to help in understanding the numbering system and process relationships. The Plutonium Finishing Plant was built in 1948 and began processing plutonium in mid-1949. The Incinerator (232-Z) operated from December 1961 until May 1973. The Plutonium Reclamation Facility (PRF, 236-Z) began operation in May 1964. The Waste Treatment Facility (242-Z) operated from August 1964 until August 1976. Waste from some processes went through transfer lines to 241-Z sump tanks. High salt and organic waste under normal operation were sent to Z-9 or Z-18 cribs. Water from the retention basin may have also passed through this tank. The transfer lines to 241-Z were numbered D-4 to D-6. The 241-Z sump tanks were numbered D-4 through D-8. The D-4, 5, and 8 drains went to the D-6 sump tank. When D-6 tank was full it was transferred to D-7 tank. Prior to transfer to cribs, the D-7 tank contents was sampled. If the plutonium content was analyzed to be more than 10 g per batch, the material was (generally) reprocessed. Below the discard limit, caustic was added and the material was sent to the cribs via the 241-Z-361 settling tank where solids settled out and the liquid overflowed by gravity to the cribs. Waste liquids that passed through the 241-Z-361 settling tank flowed from PFP to ground in the following sequence: Processes to D-4, D-5, D-6 Drains to D-6 Sump Tank to D-7 or D-8 Sump Tank to 241-Z-361 Settling Tank to Cribs. Each is discussed. In addition, samples taken of the settling tank sludge and analyzed in the mid-1970s are evaluated.
- Research Organization:
- Fluor Daniel Hanford, Inc., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-96RL13200
- OSTI ID:
- 353331
- Report Number(s):
- HNF-1989-Rev.1; ON: DE99050907; BR: EW3120074; TRN: AHC29923%%163
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 6 Aug 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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