HANFORD TANK WASTE TREATMENT SYSTEM
Conference
·
OSTI ID:837631
- CH2M
The US Department of Energy is constructing the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant which is the largest waste pretreatment and vitrification facility in the world. This massive facility will begin commissioning operations in 2009, with full scale production beginning in 2011. While this facility will provide a much needed waste treatment capability to meet the department accelerated cleanup goals for closure of the Hanford waste tank systems, it alone will not provide enough capacity to complete the waste treatment mission by the 2028 regulatory milestone. The 53 million gallons of radioactive waste remaining in Hanford's 177 single and double shell tanks present a broad range of radiochemical and chemical contents. The US Department of Energy, Office of River Protection has established a strategy for waste retrieval and waste treatment that recognizes that all tank waste is not identical, and that other processes can be utilized to safely and economically treat tank waste for ultimate disposal. Finalizing the overall waste treatment strategy is a complex balance between waste retrieval sequence, waste pretreatment, HLW glass formulation, LAW glass formulation, along with the projected production capacity of the retrieval and waste treatment systems. Optimization of this complex system requires use of sophisticated process and operational models. The department is pursuing a 3-tiered strategy to define, develop, and deploy treatment capability that will meet the 2028 waste treatment milestone. Ultimately, by tailoring the treatment process to the actual waste being processed, economies and efficiencies can be exploited to improve the overall treatment approach. The amount of sodium contained in the waste is an indicator of the overall processing demand of the various processing systems. In the end, DOE expects that each of the 3 elements will process approximately: (1) The Waste Treatment Plant will process 100 per cent of the High Level Waste (HLW) and waste containing over one half of the LAW waste sodium. (2) Transuranic (TRU) waste packaging and disposal will treat waste containing 2 per cent of the total waste sodium. (3) Supplemental treatment will treat waste containing a little less than one half of the Low Activity (LAW) waste sodium. Additional risk mitigation activities are underway to further enhance the evolution of the strategy for both the LAW and HLW treatment approaches and increase the confidence that the overall treatment mission can be completed by the 2028 deadline.
- Research Organization:
- CH2M (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC27-99RL14047
- OSTI ID:
- 837631
- Report Number(s):
- RPP-22607-FP, Rev.1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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