Slurry feed variability in West Valley's melter feed tank and sampling system
The present plan for disposal of high-level wastes at West Valley is to vitrify the wastes for disposal in deep geologic repository. The vitrification process involves mixing the high-level wastes with glass-forming chemicals and feeding the resulting slurry to a liquid-fed ceramic melter. Maintaining the quality of the glass product and proficient melter operation depends on the ability of the melter feed system to produce and maintain a homogeneous mixture of waste and glass-former materials. To investigate the mixing properties of the melter feed preparation system at West Valley, a statistically designed experiment was conducted using synthetic melter feed slurry over a range of concentrations. On the basis of the statistical data analysis, it was found that (1) a homogeneous slurry is produced in the melter feed tank, (2) the liquid-sampling system provides slurry samples that are statistically different from the slurry in the tank, and (3) analytical measurements are the major source of variability. A statistical quality control program for the analytical laboratory and a characterization test of the actual sampling system is recommended. 1 ref., 5 figs., 1 tab.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 5926325
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-SA-16829; CONF-890488-9; ON: DE89015839
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 4. international symposium on ceramics in nuclear waste management, Indianapolis, IN, USA, 23-27 Apr 1989; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
SLURRIES
VARIATIONS
CERAMIC MELTERS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
SAMPLING
TANKS
VITRIFICATION
CONTAINERS
DISPERSIONS
ELECTRIC FURNACES
FURNACES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MIXTURES
PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SUSPENSIONS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
052001* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Processing
053000 - Nuclear Fuels- Environmental Aspects