Measurement of unsaturated hydraulic properties of salt cake simulant relevant to hanford and SRS high-level waste tanks using a pilot-scale setup
Closure of the remaining tanks and final disposition of the radioactive waste is a high priority task at both Savannah River Site (SRS) and Hanford. The radioactive waste in the tanks are generally found in layers: supernate (on top) containing soluble fission products, and salt-cake and sludge (on the bottom of the tank) containing insoluble actinides. One strategy for minimizing the waste volume is to segregate the low curie salt waste from the high curie salt supernate by draining the supernate and interstitial salt solution from the salt-cake. The retrieval of the interstitial fluid will require knowledge of relevant propertiesmore »