CO{sub 2} pellet blasting literature search and decontamination scoping tests report
Past decontamination and solvent recovery activities at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) have resulted in the accumulation of 1.5 million gallons of radioactively contaminated sodium-bearing liquid waste. Future decontamination activities at the ICPP could result in the production of 5 million gallons or more of sodium-bearing waste using current decontamination techniques. Chemical decontamination flushes have provided a satisfactory level of decontamination. However, this method generates large amounts of sodium-bearing secondary waste. Steam jet cleaning has also been used with a great deal of success but cannot be used on concrete or soft materials. With the curtailment of reprocessing at the ICPP, the focus of decontamination is shifting from maintenance for continued operation of the facilities to decommissioning. Treatment of sodium-bearing waste is a particularly difficult problem due to the high content of alkali metals in the sodium-bearing liquid waste. It requires a very large volume of cold chemical additive for calcination. In addition, the sodium content of the sodium-bearing waste exceeds the limit that can be incorporated into vitrified waste without the addition of glass-forming compounds (primarily silicon) to produce an acceptable immobilized waste form. The primary initiatives of the Decontamination Development Program is the development of methods to eliminate/minimize the use of sodium-bearing decontamination chemicals and to minimize all liquid decontamination wastes. One method chosen for cold scoping studies during FY-93 was CO{sub 2} pellet blasting. CO{sub 2} pellet blasting has been used extensively by commercial industries for general cleaning. However, using this method for decontamination of nuclear materials is a fairly new concept. The following report discusses the research and scoping tests completed on CO{sub 2} pellet blasting.
- Research Organization:
- Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Co., Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-84ID12435
- OSTI ID:
- 143485
- Report Number(s):
- WINCO-1180; ON: DE94008918; TRN: 94:006606
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Dec 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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