WSRGRP-99-O0846 TFA Product Delvery Expectatons daho Low Actvty Waste mmoblzaton by E. W. Holtzscheter Westnghouse Savannah Rver Company Savannah Rver Ste Aken, South Carolna 29808 J. R. Harbour DOE Contract No. DE-AC09-96SR1 8500 Ths paper was prepared n connecton wth work done under the above contract number wth the U. S. Department of Energy. By acceptance of ths paper, the publsher and/or recpent acknowledges the U. S. Government s rght to retan a nonexclusve, royalty-free lcense n and to any copyrght coverng ths paper, along wth the r~ht to reproduce and to authorze others to reproduce all or part of the copyrghted paper.
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WSRC-RP-O0846 TFA Product Delvery Expectaton daho Low Actvty Waste mmoblzaton By E.W. Holtzscheter Westnghouse Savannah Rver Company Savamah Rver Ste Aken, South Carolna 29808 J.R. Harbour DOE Contract No. DE-AC09-96SR18500 Ths paper was prepared n connecton wth work done under the above contract number wth the U. S. Department of Energy. By acceptance of ths paper, the publsher and/or recpent acknowledges the U.S. Government s rght to retan a nonexclusve, royalty-free lcense n and to any copyrght coverng ths paper, along wth the rght to reproduce and to authorze others to reproduce all or part of the copyrghted paper.
,.,...F m&mes(&l -=m WESTNGHOUSE SAVANNAH RVER, COMPANY NTEROFFCE MEMORANDUM September 15,1999 TANKS FOCUS AREA PRODUCT DELVERY EXPECTATONS DAHO LOW ACTVTY WASTE MMOBLZATON E. W. Holtzscheter Technology ntegraton Manager mmoblzaton And John R Harbour Savannah Rver Technology Center nnm TAN KS FOCUS AREA
..* September 15,1999 Page 2 PRODUCT DELVERY EXPECTATONS Condtonng and mmoblzaton of LAW to Meet Waste Acceptance Crtera Executve Summary The daho Ste has been used to produce nuclear materals for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and ts predecessors. A large nventory of radoactve and mxed waste, large]y generated durng uranum processng, has resulted n 10 tanks (plus 1 spare) wth -5.3 mllon lters of lqud waste and -4000 cubc meters of calcned waste stored n sx bn sets. The current baselne s to process the stored waste, separate the hgh actvty fracton for vtrfcaton and the low actvty fracton for mmoblzaton n grout. The resdual lqud waste such as unprocessed Sodum Bearng Waste (SBW) and Newly Generated Lqud Waste (NGLW) s beng evaluated for separate dsposal on an accelerated schedule. The current focus of ths effort s to address the exstng lqud wastes (SBW and NGLW). Both waste streams contan suffcent cesum and possbly strontum to requre some separaton to acheve contact processng of the fnal waste form nto grout. Durng FY98 and FY99, the daho Natonal Engneerng and Envronmental Laboratory (11 jeel)worked wth AEA Technology, through the Tanks Focus Area to develop grout formulatons consstent wth Waste Acceptance Crtera for known avalable dsposal facltes. Facltes sutable for recevng the NEEL grouted waste nclude Envrocare, nc. and the Hanford Low-Level Bural Grounds (Trenches 31 and 34). To date, formulatons for NGLW and SBW (wth and wthout dengraton) have been developed and tested. Further optmzaton wll be requred to match formulaton to the process constrants and to the Waste Acceptance Crtera (WAC) of the selected dsposal faclty. Durng FYOO,the techncal team wll provde techncal and engneerng support to an NEEL led project to demonstrate the groutng of one of these low-actvty waste streams. The demonstraton wll be desgned to allow demonstraton of both streams; the order of processng wll support NEEL ste prortes. The key eements of the daho Low Actvty.JVaste Task are A. B. c. Zow-Actvty Waste Acceptance Crtera. One of the two objectves of ths task s to desgn and hold a techncal exchange on low-actvty waste acceptance crtera and waste form qualfcaton. The focus of ths exchange wll be to dentfy key crtera and processes for qualfcaton of low-actvty wastes. The second s to use thk nformaton to provde process requrements for the demonstraton and to provde a bass for selectng the dsposal faclty for the ntal mmoblzed waste streams resultng from the demonstraton. Prepare the techncal bass and support the alzho project for demonstratng mmoblzaton of SBW and NGL.W. Ths task umbrellas the entre effort. t ncorporates the crtera developed n tem A above and the technology developed n the subsequent tems of ths task and the ntegrated flowsheet work relatng to low-actvty waste. Overall, the TFA techncal team ncludng daho and AEA Technology wll provde support to the dsposal ste selecton, faclty descrptons, optons cost evaluatons, storage and transportaton, and permttng requrements. n addton, the flowsheet for the process wll be defned and related to the dsposal ste WAC S. Equpment performance experence wll be supported by AEA Technology and wll be supported under EM-30 fundng. Overall ntegraton of the technology wth the demonstraton faclty wll be provded by NEEL wth nput from the TFA techncal team. The start of the radoactve demonstraton s planned for early FY02. Evaluaton of dengraton for the LA Wfacton of the NEEL pretreated HLW stream. Dengraton processes applcable to daho waste were evaluated n prevous years work. Thermal dengraton was selected as the best opton for daho. As the process requrements mature and the
---- September 15,1999 Page 3 ndvdual unt operatons are ntegrated under ths task and the ntegrated Flowsheet task cost effectveness of dengraton can be assessed. D. E. F. Condtonng of the LA W streams. n order to meet the expected WAC for vable dsposal facltes and to support cost effectve processng, some pretreatment of the waste stream s expeeted. From a processng perspectve, contact rather than remote faclty mantenance and operatons s generally desrable. From a dsposal perspectve, selectve removal of key sotopes may mprove waste loadng and provde addtonal dsposal optons. These attrbutes wll have to be weghed versus cost of pretreatment. Removal of cesum, strontum, and possbly transurancs (TRU) wll be consdered. Technologes developed prevously by TFA or that are commercally avalable wll he the focus.. Evaluaton of sorbents or stablzers for RCRA consttuents. daho waste s lsted RCRA and must be de-lsted or dsposed of n a RCRA faclty. The scope of ths task s to dentfy from lterature and expermental work, sorbents and stablzers that wll ensure that the seleeted RCRA consttuents meet regulatory requrements. Oak Rdge has a smlar need for stablzaton of ther tank wastes whch are characterstcally hazardous. These efforts wll be coordnated even though the waste forms are dfferent. Fnalze the grout formulaton for NEEL SBWand NGLW. As results from the prevous tasks are developed, some tweekng of the formulatons may mprove cost or processng. Ths effort s amed at ntegratng all of the key data nto a fnal grout formulaton for daho. AEAT s the lead on ths effort. Dscusswn of Kev Delverables A. B., c. D. E. F. Low-Actv~ Waste Acceptance Technology Exchange: A meetng wll be held n the fmt half of FYOO to revew exstng approaches and facltes for dsposal of LAW. The meetng wll ncorporate nput from related closure actvtes, but the focus wll he on daho requrements. The output of ths meetng wll provde nput to daho for seleeton of a dsposal faclty for the waste mmoblzed n the planned FYO1-02 demonstraton. The key elements of waste form acceptance and performance as they relate to the regulatory process wll be dscussed. The outcome of the meetng wll be documented n a report for use n both mmoblzaton and closure actvtes. Techncal Bass Document and Support to the &ho Demonstraton of mmoblzaton of SBW and NGLWt A year-end report that provdes a status of the techncal bass as nput to the daho Projeet Management Team workng on the LAW grout demonstraton wll be completed. t wll nclude dscussons of the process and equpmen~ wth reeomrnendatons. Evaluaton of Dengraton of the LAW Fracton of the NEEL Pretreated HLW Stream: The results of prevous work (both TFA and EM-30) wll be ncorporated nto the flowsheet ntegraton efforts and an ntal evaluaton of the cost vablty of usng dengraton wll be completed. Condtonng of the LA W Stream: The effectveness of cesum, strontum and/or TRU removal technques wll be documented for use n the determnng the extent of pretreatment to be ncluded n the demonstraton. Cost versus operatonal exposure and waste loadng wll be the key factors. Evaluaton of sorbents and stablzers: The daho porton of ths task wll leverage off of the work beng ntated by Oak Rdge. Oak Rdge wll perform the ntal lterature survey and ntate radoactve work relevant to ther tank wastes and prvatzed waste form. The daho process and waste form wll be dfferent and daho wll document canddate stablzers compatble wth groutng. Fnalze the grout formulaton for NEEL SBW and NGLW: Once the dsposal ste has been selected and the process constrants defned versus the WAC, AEAT wll optmze the exstng grout formulaton for cost and performance. Ths task may slp nto the frst part of FYO1 dependng on progress on the demonstraton project.
..,-. *... September 15,1999 \ Page 4 Key Pm duct Requrement@ Groutng faclty must nclude process steps to mmoblze botb SBW and NGLW. The fml waste form must meet the WAC for an avalable dsposal faclty. Addtves must be consstent wth the waste form and the WAC for the selected dsposal faclty.. The ntal demonstraton must be acheved pror to FY03. Task.#ro duct Revew Strat~ A consensus of experts wll be developed through the Techneal Exchange on waste form acceptance crtera related to low-actvty waste for daho. John Harbour wll revew waste form compostons for leveragng from prevous Tl?A work n mmoblzaton and Larry Bustard wll be consulted on areas dentfed n the mmoblzaton-closure nterface Meetng for potental overlap. Techncal reports and test plans wll be revewed by at least one expert not workng on the specfc task and/or a cognsant Techncal Advso~ Group member. Roles and Responsbltes NEEL and AEA Technology are the prncpal nvestgators for the Low-Actvty Waste groutng tasks. daho wll provde overall ntegraton and EM-30 project management for the demonstraton. The techncal task plans and reports wll be revewed by the mmoblzaton Technology ntegmton Manager for both content and overall program ntegraton. SRTC (John Harbour) wll organze and summmze.&ewaste acceptance technology exchange meetng wth support and nput from Alan Herbs~ NEEL. daho program prortes are hghly senstve to exstng HLW operatons, partcularly the HLW calcner. Therefore, the demonstraton wll be desgned to process both SBW and NGLW, wth a suffcently flexble pretreatment step to address the radaton exposure ssues and sotopc requrements for the selected dsposal faclty. The goal for the task s to htate the cold demonstraton late n FYO1; followed by the radoactve demonstraton n early FY02. An early selecton of the waste dsposal faclty s crtcally mportant to cost and performance, snce the process steps and the extent of pretreatment are controlled by the WACS. References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Md-Year Progress Report on Cementaton of NEEL Type 2 Waste, Rchard F. Shnmons, May 1999, AEAT-5516 yme 1. Dengraton of Hgh Ntrate Salts Usng Reductants, H.D. Smth et al, Aprl 1999, Pacfc Northwest Natonal Laboratory, PNNL-12144. Comparson of Hgh Temperature and Organc-Reductant Thermal Dengraton of NTEC Low Actvty Waste n a Bench Scale Rotary Reactor-JHP-04-98,Ltr. J. Pao to J. H. Valentne, Lockheed Martn daho Technologes Company, December 24, 1998. Cementaton Studes on NEEL Sodum Bearng Waste, R. F. Smmons et al, AEA Technology, September 1997, AEAT-2178. Processng and Product Crtera for the Cementaton of NEEL Low Level Wastes, S, J. Palethorpe and R F. Smmons, AEA Technology, September, 1997,AEAT-2111 ssue 1. Cementaton Studes on NEEL Sodum Bearng Waste, R. F. Smmons et al, AEA Technology, September 1997, AEAT-2178 ssue 1. Cementaton Studes on lneel Acdc Sodum Bearng Waste Grout, M. A. Johnson et al, AEA Technology, September 1998, AEAT-4 165 ssue 1.
.,..x s. -, -. September 15,1999 * Page 5 daho Low Actvty Waste mmoblzaton and Dsposal FY98 FY99 moo FYol FY02 DengratonProcess Down select Groutformulatonfor Type2 Waste Relmnaryselectonof Sorbents F Completedermnstratonofft smam (SBW&NGLW) 12124198 t * d t ~t 9/3n/-n? ~n M ~ ~q 1 8 t. @ t 1 -Z!2J 1 ;