Waste Acceptance for Vitrified Sludge from Oak Ridge Tank Farms

Download or read book Waste Acceptance for Vitrified Sludge from Oak Ridge Tank Farms written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tanks Focus Area of the DOE's Office of Science and Technology (EM-50) has funded the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) to develop formulations which can incorporate sludges from Oak Ridge Tank Farms into immobilized glass waste forms. The four tank farms included in this study are: Melton Valley Storage Tanks (MVST), Bethel Valley Evaporation Service Tanks (BVEST), Gunite and Associated Tanks (GAAT), and Old Hydrofracture Tanks (OHF). The vitrified waste forms must be sent for disposal either at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) or the Nevada Test Site (NTS). Waste loading in the glass is the major factor in determining where the waste will be sent and whether the waste will be remote-handled (RH) or contact-handled (CH). In addition, the waste loading significantly impacts the costs of vitrification operations and transportation to and disposal within the repository. This paper focuses on disposal options for the vitrified Oak Ridge Tank sludge waste as determined by the WIPP (1) and NTS (2) Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). The concentrations for both Transuranic (TRU) and beta/gamma radionuclides in the glass waste form will be presented a a function of sludge waste loading. These radionuclide concentrations determine whether the waste forms will be TRU (and therefore disposed of at WIPP) and whether the waste forms will be RH or CH.