SENSITIVITY OF HANFORD IMMOBILIZED HIGH LEVEL WASTE (IHLW) GLASS MASS TO CHROMIUM & ALUMINUM PARTITIONING ASSUMPTIONS
- CH2M
The strategy for the treatment of the Hanford Site tank wastes involves water and caustic washing of the tank waste sludges to reduce sludge mass and the corresponding mass of high-level waste (HLW) glass that will be generated by the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). During fiscal year (FY) 2003 CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc. (CH2M HILL) developed revised water wash and caustic leach factors for chromium (RPP-10222) and aluminum (RPP-11079) to estimate the waste treatment behavior of the tank waste compositions. Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of River Protection (ORP) requested that CH2M HILL evaluate the potential impacts to the HLW glass mass due to these revised water wash and caustic leach factors. ORP plans to use the results of this study in conjunction with separate information regarding the process impacts of implementing oxidative leaching at the WTP to determine whether oxidative leaching is adequate to mitigate potential increases in HLW glass production or whether additional strategies are required. The purpose of this sensitivity study of immobilized HLW glass mass to chromium and aluminum partitioning assumptions was to: (1) Identify the impacts of the revised water wash and caustic leach factors for chromium and aluminum on the mass of HLW glass. (2) Understand the effect of oxidative leaching on the mass of HLW glass. (3) Identify the major influences for HLW glass mass and waste blending. (4) Characterize the degree of pretreatment (water washing, caustic leaching, and oxidative leaching) assumed for different source tanks. (5) Identify candidate tanks for opportunistic sampling and testing to confirm the inventory and better understand the behavior of chromium during retrieval, staging, and subsequent processing. The study concluded that: (1) Application of the revised chromium and aluminum wash and leach factors will increase the HLW glass mass by about 60 to 100 percent (using the relaxed glass properties model) to about 150 to 300 percent (using the default glass properties model) above the baseline. (2) The use of oxidative leaching for chromium removal, if implementable as assumed, will offset the increase in HLW glass mass resulting from the use of the revised chromium and aluminum wash and leach factors. The revised HLW glass mass estimate is comparable to the current ORP baseline. This study does not address the ability to implement an oxidative leaching process in the WTP, or impacts that such a process might have on pretreatment capacity or the overall process flowsheet--these factors should be addressed separately from this report. (3) The major parameters affecting the glass mass will change from Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} solubility and spinel liquidus temperature (T{sub L}) constraints to SO{sub 3} solubility and spinel T{sub L} constraints. The HLW glass mass will increase by about 15 percent (3,044 MT) if the transuranic (TRU) waste from fourteen single-shell tanks and three double-shell tanks currently designated for direct packaging is treated in the WTP as HLW, assuming a hypothetical total blend of all tank wastes. This represents an increase in mission duration of about 20 months at a net HLW production rate of 5 MT glass per day. For the hypothetical processing of wastes on a tank farm blend basis, processing the TRU tank wastes in the WTP will increase the HLW glass mass by about 4,170 MT (14 percent) and increase the mission duration by about 28 months. The effect of incidental blending on the HLW glass mass was not evaluated for a case that did not include the TRU tank wastes. All of the HLW sludge was assumed to require water washing. The majority ({approx}80%) of the tanks requires caustic leaching, either with or without oxidative leaching. Oxidative leaching provides a significant benefit when it is used in conjunction with caustic leaching. Ten of the fifty tanks allocated for early retrieval as part of the M-45 pool of tanks contain a significant quantity of chromium and, thus, are candidates for opportunistic sampling and analysis.
- Research Organization:
- CH2M (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC27-99RL14047
- OSTI ID:
- 825184
- Report Number(s):
- RPP-20003, Rev.0; DE-AC27-99RL14047
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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