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Title: Modeling of Chemical Slurry Rheology in DWPF Sludge Batch (SB) 10 Simulants

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1915273· OSTI ID:1915273
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Florida International Univ. (FIU), Miami, FL (United States)
  2. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), Aiken, SC (United States); Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)

The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) treats high-activity radionuclides from sludge through a process called vitrification. This process converts radioactive liquid waste currently stored in tank farms into a solid glass form that is suitable for long-term storage and disposal. Due to the complexities involved in vitrifying this waste within each operation of the Chemical Processing Cell (CPC), waste rheology is studied to characterize the fluid-mechanical properties as it passes through the CPC and into the Melter. To better understand the waste and validate flow behavior, slurry rheology of simulants that represents the waste was studied at various acid stoichiometry percentages and solids concentrations to determine the simulant’s yield stress and viscosity. This research work has been supported by the DOE-FIU Science & Technology Workforce Development Initiative, an innovative program developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) and Florida International University’s Applied Research Center (FIU-ARC). During the spring of 2022, a DOE Fellow intern, Brendon Cintas, spent 10 weeks doing a summer internship at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRS) under the supervision and guidance of Dan Lambert, Chemical Flowsheet Development. The intern’s project was initiated on June 6, 2022, and continued through August 11, 2022 with the objective of assisting scientists at SRNL’s Rheology and Grout Laboratory at Aiken Country Technology Lab (ACTL) better understand the sludge composition on the rheology of a simulant slurry using a HAAKE RheoStress 6000 rheometer and extrapolate the results to the real-waste data.

Research Organization:
Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM)
DOE Contract Number:
89303321CEM000080; EM0005213
OSTI ID:
1915273
Report Number(s):
FIU-ARC-2021-800013920-04C-006; TRN: US2310487
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English