Waste management. Savannah River Laboratory quarterly report, October--December 1976
Long-term waste management studies reported on are consequences of a postulated fire in a retrievable storage facility (RSF) and sludge drying. The RSF containers, filled to 90% of capacity with concrete waste, will withstand an intense (1450/sup 0/C) fire for more than 30 minutes, which satisfies the standards for transportation casks for radioactive waste. Ultimate failure would be caused by the internal steam pressure exceeding approximately 2300 psi. Non-radioactive, simulated SRP sludge was dried at the laboratories of vendors of four types of commercial drying equipment. Based on these tests, large-scale drying equipment will be tested at the SRL semiworks. Interim waste management studies reported on are development of wiped-film evaporators, sampling of 16-yr-old alpha waste trench, demonstration of glovebox decontamination, and radiolytic gas formation. Semiworks tests have demonstrated the feasibility of plant operation with wiped-film evaporators. The tests show that at sufficiently high boildown, wiped-film evaporators effectively convert a broad range of wastes (e.g., SRP and Hanford wastes) to salt cake in a single pass. Analysis of 8 soil cores revealed no downward migration of plutonium from a 16-yr-old B-Line alpha waste trench. The maximum plutonium concentrations were 188 pCi/g in soil and 2800 pCi/g in intercepted waste. A large (approximately 4 x 5 x 6 ft) stainless steel glove box, which had been in TRU wet-chemistry service for 12 years was decontaminated (10 nCi/m/sup 2/) for trench burial. The decontamination procedures will be the basis for developing a decontamination and disassembly facility for TRU-contaminated equipment. Four instrumented drums of solid waste in 20-year retrievable storage have developed internal gas pressures up to 1.7 psig since burial in March 1976.
- Research Organization:
- Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (USA). Savannah River Lab.
- DOE Contract Number:
- EY-76-C-09-0001
- OSTI ID:
- 6525347
- Report Number(s):
- DPST-76-125-4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Waste management. Savannah River Laboratory quarterly report, July--September 1976
Waste management quarterly report, January--March 1978
Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CHEMICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
CLEANING
DECOMPOSITION
DECONTAMINATION
DRYING
EVAPORATORS
FIRES
FLUIDS
GASES
GLOVEBOXES
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PROCESSING
RADIATION CHEMISTRY
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOLYSIS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SAFETY
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SLUDGES
SOLIDIFICATION
STORAGE
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTE STORAGE
WASTES