I II Radioactivewaste storedin underground tanksat theWest ValleyDemonstration Projectisbeing processed intolow-level wasteand solidifiedin cement. High-level waste alsostoredundergroundwillbe vitrifiedand solidifiedintocanisteredglasslogs. "romovethe wastefrom where itresidesat the Waste Tank Farm to the Vitrification Facilityrequiresequipment to preparethe storagetanksfor low-leveland high-levelwaste processing, equipmentto mobilizeand mixthe radioactivesludgeintoa homogeneous slurry, and equipmentto transferthe s!urryfor vitrification. The designof the SludgeMobilizationSystem has incorporatedthe necessarycomponentsto effectthepreparationand transferof waste in five operational phases. The first phase of the Sludge Mobilization System,which began in 1987,prepared the waste tanks to process radioactive liquid for delivery to the Cement Solidification System and to support the mobilization equipment. Thesecond phase, beginning in 1991,will wash the sludge that remains after the liquid supernatant is decanted to prepare it for mobilization operations. The third phase will combine the contents of various waste tanks into one tank. The fourth phase will resuspend and mix the contents of the high-level waste tank. Thefifth and final phase of the Sludge Mobilization System will entail transferring the waste mixture to the Vitrification Facility for processing into glass logs. Provisions for recycling the waste streams or slurrieswithin the tank farm or for returning process streams to the Waste Tank Farm from the Vitrification Facilityare also included in the final phase. This document addressesthe Sludge Mobilization System equipment design characteristics in terms of its use in each of the five operational phases listed above.

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The primary objective of the West ValleyDemonstrationProject (WVDP)isthe solidificationof approximately 2.1 million liters (560,000gallons) of high-level radioactivewaste (HLW)which resulted from the operation of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. Since the original plant was not built to accommodate the processing of wastebeyond storage in underground tanks, HLWsolidification byvitrification presented numerous engineering challenges Existing facilities required redesign and conversion to meet their new purpose. Vitrification technology and systems neededto be created and then tested. Equipment modifications, identifiedfrom cold test results, were incorporated into the final equipment configuration to be used for radioactive (hot) operations. Cold operations have defined the correct sequence and optimal functioning of the equipment to be used for vitrification and haveverified the process by which waste will be solidified into borosilicate glass.