Technetium Management Program Plan - 17376

Abstract

Technetium management is a high-priority activity for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) complex. Waste management and remediation issues involving technetium represent environmental risks and challenges that are unique to DOE. This plan lays out the technology development activities that are underway as well as future technology needs to address technetium issues across DOE EM sites and across programmatic areas of tank waste, groundwater and soils, and facility decommissioning and deactivation in order to be comprehensive and to allow integration of similar activities. The program was developed in close coordination with site representatives and program offices. Activities and needs that were identified share common themes and were grouped into areas of characterization, treatment, and disposition. Characterization includes understanding the inventory at particular locations, the chemical species, and chemical and physical behavior, whether in a treatment process flowsheet or a geological setting that displays periodic contaminant releases. The tools for characterization in these different environments might use the same sensors or protocols. Treatment options include methods to capture technetium such as ion-exchange or manipulation of oxidation states, which also may be applied across program areas. Disposition includes end-points of the processes and environmental risk, including waste form behavior, mobility of technetium once it is treated or remediated, and long-term monitoring. Disposition represents integration of all cleanup actions at a site. (authors)