Feasibility study on the solidification of liquid low-level radioactive mixed waste in the inactive tank system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Trussell, S.; Spence, R. M.

doi:10.2172/6699813

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 28 publications

(60 reference statements)

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“…Grout, a cement-based waste form, has proven successful in many waste S / S applications, including recent ones for mixed waste [389] and radioactive wastes [388,390,398]. Some of these successes are based on the collective technical expertise on cement and concrete that has evolved after many years of study for the purposes of waste disposal and other operations.…”

Section: Groutmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of final waste forms and recommendations for baseline alternatives to group and glass

Bleier¹

1997

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'This report has been r&duccd d h t l y from the best available copy. This report was prepared as an account of worlc sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thmof. nor any of their employees. makes any warranty, express or implied. or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness. or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed. or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, ~KICCSS, PREFACEGrout and glass waste forms are two materials around which baseline technologies have been built for the stabilization and solidification ( S / S ) of hazardous, radioactive, and mixed wastes. These materials have served these needs with varying degrees of success. Grout has been the most widely adapted waste form, being used to treat many types of wastes. On the other hand, the use of glass waste forms has been relatively limited, being essentially restricted to radioactive wastes.Some of the more troublesome of voluminous wastes within the Department of Energy (DOE) complex are those that contain the metals identified by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) as hazardous. These metals are often problematic for grout-based and glass-based technologies, and the technical problems associated with these RCRA metals can be especially acute for mixed, hazardous, and radioactive wastes, such as those on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). These considerations make the design of suitable criteria by which to assess and to regulate the S/S of such wastes suspect and, thereby, limit the development of better predictive capabilities of waste-form performance for grout and glass.This condition is exacerbated by the common perception that one or two waste forms are suitable for the wide variety of hazardous and mixed wastes that must be treated. Experience demonstrates otherwise.Indeed, some of the waste problems persist after many years of technological development for groutbased and glass-based waste forms. Hence, it is timely to examine the technical bases by which these waste forms perform, in order to gain perspective on their most limiting characteristics and remaining technological hurdles. Similarly, it is appropriate to identify and to understand the collective status of alternative materials and technologies. To a large extent, the advantages and disadvantages of potential alternatives, such as polyethylene, bitumens, sulfur, and crystalline ceramics, to name a few, are known only qualitatively and without a critical understanding of the inherent similarities and differences that each has relative to the two baseline materials, grout and glass.Moreover, current perceptions of these and other alternatives are based, in part, on the economic aspects of production and normally tend to neglect the economics of performance over the lifetime of storage and burial, including the costs demanded by the mandated monitoring o...

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Section: Groutmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of final waste forms and recommendations for baseline alternatives to group and glass

Bleier¹

1997

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Solidification of Simulated Liquid Effluents Originating From Sodium-Bearing Waste at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center, FY-03 Report

Raman¹,

Herbst²,

Scholes³

et al. 2003

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In this report, the mechanism and methods of fixation of acidic waste effluents in grout form are explored. From the variations in the pH as a function of total solids addition to acidic waste effluent solutions, the stages of gellation, liquefaction, slurry formation and grout development are quantitatively revealed. Experimental results indicate the completion of these reaction steps to be significant for elimination of bleed liquid and for setting of the grout to a dimensionally stable and hardened solid within a reasonable period of about twenty eight days that is often observed in the cement and concrete industry. The reactions also suggest increases in the waste loading in the direction of decreasing acid molarity. Consequently, 1.0 molar SBW-180 waste is contained in higher quantity than the 2.8 molar SBW-189, given the same grout formulation for both effluents. The variations in the formulations involving components of slag, cement, waste and neutralizing agent are represented in the form of a ternary formulation map. The map in turn graphically reveals the relations among the various formulations and grout properties, and is useful in predicting the potential directions of waste loading in grouts with suitable properties such as slurry viscosity, Vicat hardness, and mechanical strength. A uniform formulation for the fixation of both SBW-180 and SBW-189 has emerged from the development of the formulation map. The boundaries for the processing regime on this map are 100 wt% cement to 50 wt% cement / 50 wt% slag, with waste loadings ranging from 55 wt% to 68 wt%. Within these compositional bounds all the three waste streams SBW-180, SBW-189 and Scrub solution are amenable to solidification. A large cost advantage is envisaged to stem from savings in labor, processing time, and processing methodology by adopting a uniform formulation concept for fixation of compositionally diverse waste streams. The experimental efforts contained in this report constitute the first attempt at developing a uniform methodology. iv v EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe sodium bearing waste (SBW) is an acidic liquid solution of several nitrate components. In view of its acidic nature, one of the aims of the Idaho Completion Project is to have it removed from the storage tanks at Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC), and have it transformed into a disposable solid. Two types of disposable solids are under consideration: grout and silica gel. Commercially available Portland cement, slag and silica gel have been used in the present project for solidifying the three types of waste streams SBW-180, SBW-189 and NWCF Scrub solutions. A large part of this report concentrates on the investigation of the waste fixation in a grout matrix, while preliminary results of waste adsorption onto silica gel are also presented. Neutralizing the waste solutions to a weaker acid is considered important from the point of inhibiting the corrosive effects on cesium ion exchange silico-titanate resins, and for enhancing the retention of wast...

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Feasibility study on the solidification of liquid low-level radioactive mixed waste in the inactive tank system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Cited by 2 publications

References 28 publications

Evaluation of final waste forms and recommendations for baseline alternatives to group and glass

Evaluation of final waste forms and recommendations for baseline alternatives to group and glass

Solidification of Simulated Liquid Effluents Originating From Sodium-Bearing Waste at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center, FY-03 Report

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