Hydrothermal Testing of K Basin Sludge and N Reactor Fuel at Sludge Treatment Project Operating Conditions
Abstract
The Sludge Treatment Project (STP), managed for the U. S. DOE by Fluor Hanford (FH), was created to design and operate a process to eliminate uranium metal from K Basin sludge prior to packaging for Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The STP process uses high temperature liquid water to accelerate the reaction, produce uranium dioxide from the uranium metal, and safely discharge the hydrogen. Under nominal process conditions, the sludge will be heated in pressurized water at 185°C for as long as 72 hours to assure the complete reaction (corrosion) of up to 0.25-inch diameter uranium metal pieces. Under contract to FH, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) conducted bench-scale testing of the STP hydrothermal process in November and December 2006. Five tests (~50 ml each) were conducted in sealed, un-agitated reaction vessels under the hydrothermal conditions (e.g., 7 to 72 h at 185°C) of the STP corrosion process using radioactive sludge samples collected from the K East Basin and particles/coupons of N Reactor fuel also taken from the K Basins. The tests were designed to evaluate and understand the chemical changes that may be occurring and the effects that any changes would have on sludge rheological properties. The testsmore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 936766
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-16496
830403000; TRN: US0806002
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- Resource Type:
- Technical Report
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 08 HYDROGEN; 12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES; CORROSION; DEHYDRATION; DESIGN; HYDROGEN; N-REACTOR; PACKAGING; PHOSPHORS; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; RETENTION; SHEAR PROPERTIES; SLUDGES; TESTING; URANIUM; URANIUM COMPOUNDS; URANIUM DIOXIDE; WATER; WIPP; corrosion process; hydrothermal treatment; energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS); K Basin; KE Basin, K East Basin; KW Basin; K West Basin; Sludge Treatment Project (STP); K Basin Closure (KBC); Hanford; spent nuclear fuel; sludge rheology; shear strength; X-ray diffraction (XRD); characterization; scanning electron microscopy (SEM); phase identification; unconfined compressive strength; uranium; uranium metal reaction; N Reactor Fuel; metaschoepite; dehydrated schoepite; soddyite; ianthinite
Citation Formats
Delegard, Calvin H., Schmidt, Andrew J., and Thornton, Brenda M. Hydrothermal Testing of K Basin Sludge and N Reactor Fuel at Sludge Treatment Project Operating Conditions. United States: N. p., 2007.
Web. doi:10.2172/936766.
Delegard, Calvin H., Schmidt, Andrew J., & Thornton, Brenda M. Hydrothermal Testing of K Basin Sludge and N Reactor Fuel at Sludge Treatment Project Operating Conditions. United States. doi:10.2172/936766.
Delegard, Calvin H., Schmidt, Andrew J., and Thornton, Brenda M. Fri .
"Hydrothermal Testing of K Basin Sludge and N Reactor Fuel at Sludge Treatment Project Operating Conditions". United States.
doi:10.2172/936766. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/936766.
@article{osti_936766,
title = {Hydrothermal Testing of K Basin Sludge and N Reactor Fuel at Sludge Treatment Project Operating Conditions},
author = {Delegard, Calvin H. and Schmidt, Andrew J. and Thornton, Brenda M.},
abstractNote = {The Sludge Treatment Project (STP), managed for the U. S. DOE by Fluor Hanford (FH), was created to design and operate a process to eliminate uranium metal from K Basin sludge prior to packaging for Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The STP process uses high temperature liquid water to accelerate the reaction, produce uranium dioxide from the uranium metal, and safely discharge the hydrogen. Under nominal process conditions, the sludge will be heated in pressurized water at 185°C for as long as 72 hours to assure the complete reaction (corrosion) of up to 0.25-inch diameter uranium metal pieces. Under contract to FH, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) conducted bench-scale testing of the STP hydrothermal process in November and December 2006. Five tests (~50 ml each) were conducted in sealed, un-agitated reaction vessels under the hydrothermal conditions (e.g., 7 to 72 h at 185°C) of the STP corrosion process using radioactive sludge samples collected from the K East Basin and particles/coupons of N Reactor fuel also taken from the K Basins. The tests were designed to evaluate and understand the chemical changes that may be occurring and the effects that any changes would have on sludge rheological properties. The tests were not designed to evaluate engineering aspects of the process. The hydrothermal treatment affected the chemical and physical properties of the sludge. In each test, significant uranium compound phase changes were identified, resulting from dehydration and chemical reduction reactions. Physical properties of the sludge were significantly altered from their initial, as-settled sludge values, including, shear strength, settled density, weight percent water, and gas retention.},
doi = {10.2172/936766},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Mar 30 00:00:00 EDT 2007},
month = {Fri Mar 30 00:00:00 EDT 2007}
}