Closing Radioactive Waste Tanks in South Carolina

Conference · Tue Aug 29 00:00:00 EDT 2000

OSTI ID:761643

Newman, J L

The Savannah River Site (SRS) is owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and is operated by the Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC). Since the early 1950s, the primary mission of the site has been to produce nuclear materials for national defense. The chemical separations processes used to recover uranium and plutonium from production reactor fuel and target assemblies in the chemical separations area at SRS generated liquid high-level radioactive waste. This waste, which now amounts to approximately 34 million gallons, is stored in underground tanks in the F- and H-Areas near the center of the site. DOE is closing the High Level Waste (HLW) tank systems, which are permitted by SCDHEC under authority of the South Carolina Pollution Control Act (SCPCA) as wastewater treatment facilities, in accordance with South Carolina Regulation R.61-82, ''Proper Closeout of Wastewater Treatment Facilities''. To date, two HLW tank systems have been closed in place. Closure of these tanks is the first of its kind in the US. This paper describes the waste tank closure methodologies, standards and regulatory background.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-96SR18500
• OSTI ID: 761643
• Report Number(s): WSRC-MS-2000-00035; TRN: US0406850
• Resource Relation: Conference: 2000 SC Environmental Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC (US), 03/19/2000--03/22/2000; Other Information: PBD: 29 Aug 2000; PBD: 29 Aug 2000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
CLOSURES
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
NATIONAL DEFENSE
PLUTONIUM
POLLUTION CONTROL
PRODUCTION REACTORS
REGULATIONS
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
TANKS
TARGETS
URANIUM
WASTES
UNDERGROUND STORAGE
FUEL REPROCESSING PLANTS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
STORAGE FACILITIES
DECOMMISSIONING