Technology assessment for INEL buried TRU waste management alternatives

Technical Report · Fri Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5833843

Henjum, K A; Hallinan, E J; Hendrickson, P D

The leave-as-is option is used at present for buried TRU waste at the INEL. The environmental monitoring program and subsurface migration studies will help to determine the adequacy of this alternative as a long-term management method. In any case, no new technology is contemplated, other than the gradual upgrading in monitoring and maintenance procedures and the SDA stabilization project as long as institution control of the INEL is maintained by the DOE. Improved confinement methods such as engineered barriers, grouting, and in situ vitrification, have been tested at other locations. The two latter methods will be demonstrated at the INEL. These methods are still developing and have not yet been tested at full scale. Subsurface mapping, to pinpoint waste locations, is a developing technology which would be useful in both improved confinement and retrieval operations. Ground-penetrating radar and magnetometry are two mapping techniques. The equipment, buildings, and personnel protection required for retrieval operations are available commercially and will need little or no modification for retrieval purposes. The Stored Waste Examination Pilot Plant (SWEPP) is designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the certification, nondestructive examination, and TRU assay processes on stored TRU waste. SWEPP will be operable by the end of FY-1985. Minor technology development is expected to be needed for SWEPP to certify buried waste after retrieval and soil separation. Stored TRU waste processing at the Process Experimental Pilot Plant (PREPP) is scheduled to begin in FY-1987. Some modifications in the design of the plant would be necessary prior to processing buried TRU waste. Soil-immobilization processes are fully developed in other industries. These methods need to be tested on INEL soil to determine the most effective process. Soil-decontamination methods are still developing.

• Research Organization: EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-76ID01570
• OSTI ID: 5833843
• Report Number(s): EGG-EA-6797; ON: DE85008041
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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