SUMMARY PLAN FOR BENCH-SCALE REFORMER AND PRODUCT TESTING TREATABILITY STUDIES USING HANFORD TANK WASTE
This paper describes the sample selection, sample preparation, environmental, and regulatory considerations for shipment of Hanford radioactive waste samples for treatability studies of the FBSR process at the Savannah River National Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford tank farms contain approximately 57 million gallons of wastes, most of which originated during the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel to produce plutonium for defense purposes. DOE intends to pre-treat the tank waste to separate the waste into a high level fraction, that will be vitrified and disposed of in a national repository as high-level waste (HLW), and a low-activity waste (LAW) fraction that will be immobilized for on-site disposal at Hanford. The Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) is the focal point for the treatment of Hanford tank waste. However, the WTP lacks the capacity to process all of the LAW within the regulatory required timeframe. Consequently, a supplemental LAW immobilization process will be required to immobilize the remainder of the LAW. One promising supplemental technology is Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR) to produce a sodium-alumino-silicate (NAS) waste form. The NAS waste form is primarily composed of nepheline (NaAlSiO{sub 4}), sodalite (Nas[AlSiO{sub 4}]{sub 6}Cl{sub 2}), and nosean (Na{sub 8}[AlSiO{sub 4}]{sub 6}SO{sub 4}). Semivolatile anions such as pertechnetate (TcO{sub 4}{sup -}) and volatiles such as iodine as iodide (I{sup -}) are expected to be entrapped within the mineral structures, thereby immobilizing them (Janzen 2008). Results from preliminary performance tests using surrogates, suggests that the release of semivolatile radionuclides {sup 99}Tc and volatile {sup 129}I from granular NAS waste form is limited by Nosean solubility. The predicted release of {sup 99}Tc from the NAS waste form at a 100 meters down gradient well from the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) was found to be comparable to immobilized low-activity waste glass waste form in the initial supplemental LAW treatment technology risk assessment (Mann 2003). To confirm this hypothesis, DOE is funding a treatability study where three actual Hanford tank waste samples (containing both {sup 99}Tc and {sup 125}I) will be processed in Savannah River National Laboratory's (SRNL) Bench-Scale Reformer (BSR) to form the mineral product, similar to the granular NAS waste form, that will then be subject to a number of waste form qualification tests. In previous tests, SRNL have demonstrated that the BSR product is chemically and physically equivalent to the FBSR product (Janzen 2005). The objective of this paper is to describe the sample selection, sample preparation, and environmental and regulatory considerations for treatability studies of the FBSR process using Hanford tank waste samples at the SNRL. The SNRL will process samples in its BSR. These samples will be decontaminated in the 222-S Laboratory to remove undissolved solids and selected radioisotopes to comply with Department of Transportation (DOT) shipping regulations and to ensure worker safety by limiting radiation exposure to As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA). These decontamination levels will also meet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) definition of low activity waste (LAW). After the SNRL has processed the tank samples to a granular mineral form, SRNL and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) will conduct waste form testing on both the granular material and monoliths prepared from the granular material. The tests being performed are outlined in Appendix A.
- Research Organization:
- Hanford Site (HNF), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management (EM)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC27-08RV14800
- OSTI ID:
- 1010350
- Report Number(s):
- RPP-PLAN-47084 Rev 0; TRN: US1101930
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
DECONTAMINATION
FLUIDIZED BEDS
GRANULAR MATERIALS
NUCLEAR FUELS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RISK ASSESSMENT
SAMPLE PREPARATION
SPENT FUELS
STORAGE FACILITIES
TANKS
TESTING
US DOT
WASTE FORMS
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES