Experimental Determination and Thermodynamic Modeling of Electrical Conductivity of SRS Waste Tank Supernate
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)
SRS High Level Waste Tank Farm personnel rely on conductivity probes for detection of incipient overflow conditions in waste tanks. Minimal information is available concerning the sensitivity that must be achieved such that that liquid detection is assured. Overly sensitive electronics results in numerous nuisance alarms for these safety-related instruments. In order to determine the minimum sensitivity required of the probe, Tank Farm Engineering personnel need adequate conductivity data to improve the existing designs. Little or no measurements of liquid waste conductivity exist; however, the liquid phase of the waste consists of inorganic electrolytes for which the conductivity may be calculated. Savannah River Remediation (SRR) Tank Farm Facility Engineering requested SRNL to determine the conductivity of the supernate resident in SRS waste Tank 40 experimentally as well as computationally. In addition, SRNL was requested to develop a correlation, if possible, that would be generally applicable to liquid waste resident in SRS waste tanks. A waste sample from Tank 40 was analyzed for composition and electrical conductivity as shown in Table 4-6, Table 4-7, and Table 4-9. The conductivity for undiluted Tank 40 sample was 0.087 S/cm. The accuracy of OLI Analyzer™ was determined using available literature data. Overall, 95% of computed estimates of electrical conductivity are within ±15% of literature values for component concentrations from 0 to 15 M and temperatures from 0 to 125 °C. Though the computational results are generally in good agreement with the measured data, a small portion of literature data deviates as much as ±76%. A simplified model was created that can be used readily to estimate electrical conductivity of waste solution in computer spreadsheets. The variability of this simplified approach deviates up to 140% from measured values. Generally, this model can be applied to estimate the conductivity within a factor of two. The comparison of the simplified model to pure component literature data suggests that the simplified model will tend to under estimate the electrical conductivity. Comparison of the computed Tank 40 conductivity with the measured conductivity shows good agreement within the range of deviation identified based on pure component literature data.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC09-08SR22470
- OSTI ID:
- 1188365
- Report Number(s):
- SRNL-STI-2015-00243
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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