DEVELOPMENT OF EQUIPMENT FOR THE RETRIEVAL & STABILIZATION & ENCAPSULATION OF RADIOACTIVE SLUDGE AT THE HANFORD SITE

Conference · Tue Jul 05 00:00:00 EDT 2005

OSTI ID:841363

ROOSENDAAL, G D

This poster presentation describes and illustrates some of the equipment and tools that Fluor Hanford and BNG America have developed and designed to remove, transport, stabilize and encapsulate radioactive sludge from the K Basins at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington State, U.S.A. K Basins were built in the early 1950s to temporarily store irradiated nuclear fuel prior to chemical processing to remove plutonium for nuclear weapons. The sludge is the result of corrosion of these fuel elements and its removal is the final stage before the basin water can be drained and the basins decommissioned. The sludge is hydrogen-generating because of its uranium metal content and account has to be taken also of its heat generating capacity and criticality potential as it is moved from one containment to another. The paper describes all stages of sludge treatment from the use of vacuum wands to suck up the sludge, through consolidating the sludge in temporary underwater containers, transporting it though flexible, temporary pipe systems, acceleration of the corrosion of uranium to reduce hydrogen generation, measuring the fissile content and finally encapsulation in a cement grout. Emphasis is placed on the use of existing, transportable and temporary equipment. This not only saves initial costs but it also reduces the total amount of equipment needed to be disposed of as radioactive waste at the end of the job. The processes, equipment and tools described potentially have a broad applicability to nuclear site decommissioning and cleanup worldwide.

• Research Organization: Fluor Hanford, Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-96RL13200
• OSTI ID: 841363
• Report Number(s): HNF-24568-FP, Rev.0; DE-AC06-96RL13200; TRN: US0502579
• Resource Relation: Conference: Conference title not supplied, Conference location not supplied, Conference dates not supplied; Other Information: PBD: 5 Jul 2005
• 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
CONTAINERS
ENCAPSULATION
FUEL ELEMENTS
NUCLEAR FUELS
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
PHOSPHORS
PLUTONIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SLUDGES
STABILIZATION
URANIUM