Salt Processing at the Savannah River Site: Results of Technology Down-Selection and Research and Development to Support New Salt Waste Processing Facility
The Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) high-level waste (HLW) program is responsible for storage, treatment, and immobilization of HLW for disposal. The Salt Processing Project (SPP) is the salt waste (water-soluble) treatment portion of this effort. The overall SPP encompasses the selection, design, construction, and operation of technologies to prepare the salt-waste feed material for immobilization at the site's Saltstone Production Facility (SPF) and vitrification facility (Defense Waste Processing Facility [DWPF]). Major constituents that must be removed from the salt waste and sent as feed to DWPF include cesium (Cs), strontium (Sr), and actinides. In April 2000, the DOE Deputy Secretary for Project Completion (EM-40) established the SRS Salt Processing Project Technical Working Group (TWG) to manage technology development of treatment alternatives for SRS high-level salt wastes. The separation alternatives investigated included three candidate Cs-removal processes selected, as well as actinide and Sr removal that are also required as a part of each process. The candidate Cs-removal processes are: crystalline Silicotitanate Non-Elutable Ion Exchange (CST); caustic Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX); and small Tank Tetraphenylborate Precipitation (STTP). The Tanks Focus Area was asked to assist DOE by managing the SPP research and development (R&D), revising roadmaps, and developing down-selection criteria. The down-selection decision process focused its analysis on three levels: (a) identification of goals that the selected technology should achieve, (b) selection criteria that are a measure of performance of the goal, and (c) criteria scoring and weighting for each technology alternative. After identifying the goals and criteria, the TWG analyzed R&D results and engineering data and scored the technology alternatives versus the criteria. Based their analysis and scoring, the TWG recommended CSSX as the preferred alternative. This recommendation was formalized in July 2001 when DOE published the Savannah River Site Salt Processing Alternatives Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) and was finalized in the DOE Record of Decision issued in October 2001.
- Research Organization:
- U.S. Department of Energy (US); U.S. Department of Energy-Savannah River Operations Office; Westinghouse Savannah River Company; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 833792
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Waste Management 2002 Symposium, Tucson, AZ (US), 02/24/2002--02/28/2002; Other Information: PBD: 26 Feb 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ACTINIDES
CESIUM
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS
ION EXCHANGE
PRECIPITATION
RECOMMENDATIONS
REMOVAL
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
STORAGE
STRONTIUM
TANKS
VITRIFICATION
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES