MWIP: Surrogate formulations for thermal treatment of low-level mixed waste. Part 4, Wastewater treatment sludges
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States)
The category of sludges, filter cakes, and other waste processing residuals represent the largest volume of low-level mixed (hazardous and radioactive) wastes within the US Department of Energy (DOE) complex. Treatment of these wastes to minimize the mobility of contaminants, and to eliminate the presence of free water, is required under the Federal Facility Compliance Act agreements between DOE and the Environmental Protection Agency. In the text, we summarize the currently available data for several of the high priority mixed-waste sludge inventories within DOE. Los Alamos National Laboratory TA-50 Sludge and Rocky Flats Plant By-Pass Sludge are transuranic (TRU)-contaminated sludges that were isolated with the use of silica-based filter aids. The Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant West End Treatment Facility Sludge is predominantly calcium carbonate and biomass. The Oak Ridge K-25 Site Pond Waste is a large-volume waste stream, containing clay, silt, and other debris in addition to precipitated metal hydroxides. We formulate ``simulants`` for the waste streams described above, using cerium oxide as a surrogate for the uranium or plutonium present in the authentic material. Use of nonradiological surrogates greatly simplifies material handling requirements for initial treatability studies. The use of synthetic mixtures for initial treatability testing will facilitate compositional variation for use in conjunction with statistical design experiments; this approach may help to identify any ``operating window`` limitations. The initial treatability testing demonstrations utilizing these ``simulants`` will be based upon vitrification, although the materials are also amenable to testing grout-based and other stabilization procedures. After the feasibility of treatment and the initial evaluation of treatment performance has been demonstrated, performance must be verified using authentic samples of the candidate waste stream.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge K-25 Site, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 10162826
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/MWIP-18; ORNL/M-3642; ON: DE94014572; TRN: 94:013125
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Jan 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
K-1435 Wastewater Treatment System for the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator Wastewater at the East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge, TN
K-1435 Wastewater Treatment System for the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator Wastewater at the East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge, TN
Related Subjects
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
VITRIFICATION
SLUDGES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
MIXTURES
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
SIMULATION
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
CHEMICAL PREPARATION
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
052001
WASTE PROCESSING