In situ vitrification: Demonstrated capabilities and potential applications

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:6985741

Luey, J K

A large-scale demonstration of the in situ vitrification (ISV) process was performed in April 1990 on the 116-B-6A Crib in the 100 Area of the Hanford Site in southeastern Washington. The 116-B-6A Crib is a radioactive mixed waste site and was selected to demonstrate the applicability of ISV to soils contaminated with mixed wastes common to many US Department of Energy (DOE) sites. Results from the demonstration show that the ISV process is a viable remediation technology for contaminated soils. The demonstration of the ISV process on an actual contaminated soil site followed research and development efforts by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) over the last 10 years. PNL's research has led to the development of the ISV process as a viable remediation technology for contaminated soils and the creation of a commercial supplier of ISV services, Geosafe Corporation. Development efforts for ISV applications other than treatment of contaminated soils, by PNL and in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), show the ISV process has potential applicability for remediating buried waste sites, remediating underground storage tanks, and enabling the placement of subsurface vitrified barriers and engineered structures. This paper discusses the results from the April 1990 large-scale demonstration and provides a general overview of the current capabilities of the ISV process for contaminated soils. In addition, this paper outlines some of the technical issues associated with other ISV applications and provides a qualitative discussion of the level of effort needed to resolve these technical issues.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6985741
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-21706; CONF-930160--10; ON: DE93007880
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052001* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Processing
052002 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CONTAMINATION
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
DISPERSIONS
HANFORD RESERVATION
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MATERIALS
MIXTURES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
REMEDIAL ACTION
SOILS
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
VITRIFICATION
WASTES