Resolution of the ferrocyanide safety issue for the Hanford Site high-level waste tanks
- Westinghouse Hanford Company, Richland, WA (United States); and others
This paper describes the approach used to resolve the Ferrocyanide Safety Issue, a process that began in 1990 after heightened concern was expressed by various government agencies about the safety of Hanford Site high-level waste tanks. At the time, little was known about ferrocyanide-nitrate/nitrite reactions and the potential for offsite releases of radioactivity from the Hanford Site. Recent studies have shown that the combined effects of temperature, radiation, and pH during more than 38 years of storage have destroyed most of the ferrocyanide originally added to tanks. This has been proven in the laboratory using flowsheet-derived waste simulants and confirmed by waste samples obtained from the ferrocyanide tanks. The resulting tank waste sludges are too dilute to support a sustained exothermic reaction, even if dried out and heated to temperatures of at least 250{degrees}C. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has been requested to close the Ferrocyanide Safety Issue.
- OSTI ID:
- 469757
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960804-Vol.1; TRN: 97:008572
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: SPECTRUM `96: international conference on nuclear and hazardous waste management, Seattle, WA (United States), 18-23 Aug 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the international topical meeting on nuclear and hazardous waste management (SPECTRUM `96): Volume 1; PB: 885 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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