Recommendation for Supplemental Technologies for Hanford River Protection Project Potential Mission Acceleration
In May of 2002, the River Protection Project at Hanford proposed as part of the accelerated cleanup for the entire Hanford Site to ''accelerate waste stabilization by developing and deploying alternative treatment and immobilization solutions that are aligned with the waste characteristics to add assurance that overall waste treatment/immobilization will be completed 20 or more years sooner.'' This paper addresses one of these elements: development of recommendations for the supplemental technologies that have the greatest potential to supplement the River Protection Project's new Waste Treatment Plant throughput and achieve completion of waste processing by 2028. Low-activity waste treatment in the Waste Treatment Plant needs either to be enhanced or supplemented to enable the full amount of low-activity feed in the single-shell and double-shell tanks to be processed by 2028. The supplemental technologies are considered for low-activity waste feed that represents the maximum effectiveness of treatment compared with Waste Treatment Plant processing. During the Spring of 2002, over two dozen candidate technologies were assessed by staff from the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) Headquarters, Hanford Office of River Protection, representatives from the Washington State Department of Ecology and Region 10 of the Environmental Protection Agency, staff from many national laboratories, as well as contractor and independent experts. Four technologies were down-selected by this group for further development beginning in fiscal year 2003. The four technologies are: (1) Sulfate Removal consisting of sulfate precipitation using strontium nitrate addition, filtration, and solidification with grout-forming additives for immobilized waste suitable for land disposal. Sulfate removal would allow acceleration of cleanup by reducing the amount of glass produced in the Waste Treatment Plant by increasing the waste loading in the low-activity waste. (2) Containerized Grout consisting of solidification with grout-forming additives to form immobilized waste suitable for land disposal. Containerized grout would allow acceleration of the tank waste cleanup by reducing the amount of sodium that the Waste Treatment Plant would need to process. (3) Bulk Vitrification consisting of vitrification inside of the eventual disposal container suitable for land disposal. Bulk vitrification would allow accelerated tank waste cleanup by reducing the mass of sodium requiring vitrification in the Waste Treatment Plant. (4) Steam Reforming consisting of denitration in a high-temperature fluidized bed with additives, then or later, to make an immobilized waste suitable for land disposal. Steam reforming would allow acceleration of the cleanup of tank waste by reducing the amount of waste requiring vitrification in the Waste Vitrification Plant.
- Research Organization:
- CH2M Hill Hanford Group, Inc., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC27-99RL14047
- OSTI ID:
- 810099
- Report Number(s):
- RPP-11838-FP, Rev.0; TRN: US0302937
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Conference title not supplied, Conference location not supplied, Conference dates not supplied; Other Information: PBD: 3 Jan 2003
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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STATUS & DIRECTION OF THE BULK VITRIFICATION PROGRAM FOR THE SUPPLEMENTAL TREATMENT OF LOW ACTIVITY TANK WASTE AT HANFORD
Recommendation for Supplemental Technologies for Hanford River Protection Project Potential Mission Acceleration (RPP-11838)