DEMONSTRATION AND EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL HIGH LEVEL WASTE MELTER DECONTAMINATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR SAVANNAH RIVER SITE
Four hand-held tools were tested for failed high-level waste melter decontamination and decommissioning (D&D). The forces felt by the tools during operation were measured using a tri-axial accelerometer since they will be operated by a remote manipulator. The efficiency of the tools was also recorded. Melter D&D consists of three parts: (1) glass fracturing: removing from the furnace the melted glass that can not be poured out through normal means, (2) glass cleaning: removing the thin layer of glass that has formed over the surface of the refractory material, and (3) K-3 refractory breakup: removing the K-3 refractory material. Surrogate glass, from a formula provided by the Savannah River Site, was melted in a furnace and poured into steel containers. K-3 refractory material, the same material used in the Defense Waste Processing Facility, was utilized for the demonstrations. Four K-3 blocks were heated at 1150 C for two weeks with a glass layer on top to simulate the hardened glass layer on the refractory surface in the melter. Tools chosen for the demonstrations were commonly used D&D tools, which have not been tested specifically for the different aspects of melter D&D. A jackhammer and a needle gun were tested for glass fracturing; a needle gun and a rotary grinder with a diamond face wheel (diamond grinder) were tested for glass cleaning; and a jackhammer, diamond grinder, and a circular saw with a diamond blade were tested for refractory breakup. The needle gun was not capable of removing or fracturing the surrogate glass. The diamond grinder only had a removal rate of 3.0 x 10-4 kg/s for K-3 refractory breakup and needed to be held firmly against the material. However, the diamond grinder was effective for glass cleaning, with a removal rate of 3.9 cm2/s. The jackhammer was successful in fracturing glass and breaking up the K-3 refractory block. The jackhammer had a glass-fracturing rate of 0.40 kg/s. The jackhammer split the K-3 refractory block into two pieces: one weighing 12.7 kg and the other 16.8 kg. However, it was not capable of fracturing smaller pieces off the block except when the chisel was applied at the edges of the block or at the fissure of the split. The circular saw successfully cut the K-3 refractory material at a rate of 0.29 cm3/s or a line at 4.1 cm/s. A Fourier transform was performed on the acceleration data to obtain the frequency domain results.
- Research Organization:
- Hemispheric Center for Environmental Technology, Florida International University, 10555 West Flagler Street, TEC2100, Miami, FL 33172 (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 826201
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Waste Management 2003 Symposium, Tucson, AZ (US), 02/23/2003--02/27/2003; Other Information: PBD: 27 Feb 2003
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
ACCELERATION
ACCELEROMETERS
CLEANING
CONTAINERS
DECOMMISSIONING
DECONTAMINATION
DIAMONDS
EFFICIENCY
FRACTURING
FURNACES
GLASS
REMOVAL
STEELS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING