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Title: Recent Progress in DOE Waste Tank Closure

Abstract

The US DOE complex currently has over 330 underground storage tanks that have been used to process and store radioactive waste generated from the production of weapons materials. These tanks contain over 380 million liters of high-level and low-level radioactive waste. The waste consists of radioactively contaminated sludge, supernate, salt cake or calcine. Most of the waste exists at four US DOE locations, the Hanford Site, the Savannah River Site, the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center and the West Valley Demonstration Project. A summary of the DOE tank closure activities was first issued in 2001. Since then, regulatory changes have taken place that affect some of the sites and considerable progress has been made in closing tanks. This paper presents an overview of the current regulatory changes and drivers and a summary of the progress in tank closures at the various sites over the intervening six years. A number of areas are addressed including closure strategies, characterization of bulk waste and residual heel material, waste removal technologies for bulk waste, heel residuals and annuli, tank fill materials, closure system modeling and performance assessment programs, lessons learned, and external reviews. (authors)

Authors:
 [1];  [2]
  1. Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC (United States)
  2. Consultant, Marion NC (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9 - 332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
21323123
Report Number(s):
INIS-US-10-WM-08396
TRN: US10V0588064314
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: WM'08: Waste Management Symposium 2008 - HLW, TRU, LLW/ILW, Mixed, Hazardous Wastes and Environmental Management - Phoenix Rising: Moving Forward in Waste Management, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 24-28 Feb 2008; Other Information: Country of input: France; 33 refs
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES; CLOSURES; HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES; LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES; REMOVAL; SIMULATION; TANKS; UNDERGROUND STORAGE; US DOE

Citation Formats

Langton, Ch H, and Cook, J R. Recent Progress in DOE Waste Tank Closure. United States: N. p., 2008. Web.
Langton, Ch H, & Cook, J R. Recent Progress in DOE Waste Tank Closure. United States.
Langton, Ch H, and Cook, J R. 2008. "Recent Progress in DOE Waste Tank Closure". United States.
@article{osti_21323123,
title = {Recent Progress in DOE Waste Tank Closure},
author = {Langton, Ch H and Cook, J R},
abstractNote = {The US DOE complex currently has over 330 underground storage tanks that have been used to process and store radioactive waste generated from the production of weapons materials. These tanks contain over 380 million liters of high-level and low-level radioactive waste. The waste consists of radioactively contaminated sludge, supernate, salt cake or calcine. Most of the waste exists at four US DOE locations, the Hanford Site, the Savannah River Site, the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center and the West Valley Demonstration Project. A summary of the DOE tank closure activities was first issued in 2001. Since then, regulatory changes have taken place that affect some of the sites and considerable progress has been made in closing tanks. This paper presents an overview of the current regulatory changes and drivers and a summary of the progress in tank closures at the various sites over the intervening six years. A number of areas are addressed including closure strategies, characterization of bulk waste and residual heel material, waste removal technologies for bulk waste, heel residuals and annuli, tank fill materials, closure system modeling and performance assessment programs, lessons learned, and external reviews. (authors)},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21323123}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2008},
month = {Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2008}
}

Conference:
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