Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “WASTE PROCESSING”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 757 records · Page 42
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

The Development of the Corrosion Control Limits for Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste Melter-Off Gas Returns to Hanford Tank Farms - 18196

The Savannah River National Laboratory has been developing a corrosion model to facilitate implementation of Hanford's Direct Feed Low Waste (DFLAW) flowsheet. Laboratory testing and statistical analysis have been used to determine the necessary corrosion controls for returning effluent from the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant's Low Activity Waste Vitrification melter off-gas treatment system to the tank farms. The stream compositions are projected to contain components at relative concentrations that are significantly more corrosive toward carbon steel, specifically halide and sulfate anions, than the current waste compositions in the tank farms. Administrative programs are in place to mitigate potential corrosion mechanisms and thereby maintain the structural and leak integrity functions of these waste tanks throughout their intended service life. Waste chemistry and temperature control are the means by which corrosion degradation of the waste tanks is minimized. The current administrative specification for chemical composition and temperature for the underground carbon steel waste tanks is not designed to control the higher halide or sulfate composition. The content of the DFLAW waste streams will be diverse and depend on several factors, such as the melter feed composition and melter idle time. Other factors, such as effluent management of the off gas water collections, will impact the variability of the return streams even more. The work performed by the Savannah River National Laboratory has confirmed that the halide ions are the most aggressive species in the return stream compositions projected using a flowsheet simulation, and nitrite is the most effective inhibitor at pH 10 and 40 deg. C. This test program has employed statistically designed test matrices to determine the dependent variables and the interaction terms between the variables that are significant for the corrosion model and definition of the corrosion control specifications. The first phase of testing focused on identifying aggressive species in off-gas condensate return compositions that present a propensity for localized corrosion attack, namely pitting corrosion. The second phase of testing focused on developing a corrosion model from the interaction terms that will predict the susceptibility of pitting in the double shell tank system based on waste composition and the required amount of corrosion inhibitor. The data collected from this testing program in conjunction with other testing programs, both at the Savannah River Site and the Hanford Site, along with operations knowledge, has determined the chemistry ranges and chemical species requirements for corrosion control in the Hanford double-shell tank system for the effluents generated in the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant's Low Activity Waste facility during the DFLAW phase of operations. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

Product Quality Assessment of Glass Formulations for High Sodium Nuclear Waste Streams - 18198

Sodium carbonate is currently being considered as a wash-out reagent for the removal of the settled solids in the unagitated Highly Active Liquor (HAL) storage tanks at Sellafield. As the settled solids are expected to comprise mainly zirconium molybdate (ZM), this will result in a feed to the Waste Vitrification Plant (WVP) containing high concentrations of both molybdenum and sodium. This feed is expected to be challenging for WVP due to solubility limitations in existing base glass compositions and the operating temperature. In particular, depending on the wash-out strategy employed, there is the potential to produce high volumes of sodium-containing waste, which will result in large quantities of vitrified HLW containers. Hence, new glass compositions are being investigated as part of a 3-year Innovate UK-funded collaborative project in order to maximise the sodium content of the vitrified product and minimise the number of containers produced. This paper describes the product quality assessment of several sodium titanosilicate (NaTiSi) compositions that can potentially contain up to ∼15 wt% waste Na{sub 2}O, more than double what is possible using the current UK HLW glass borosilicate composition. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

Development of a Type A Shielded Liquid Package - 18215

In the U.S., very few cost-effective certified packages exist for shipping radioactive Type A quantities of liquids. Two activities where the lack of such a package was identified as creating a serious need were: 1) shipping Mo-99, both across the United States for medical purposes; as well as, 2) shipping high Cs-137 concentration High Level Waste (HLW) supernatant from the Savannah River Site and/or the Hanford Site potentially on public roads and highways for detailed laboratory characterization. For shipping Mo-99, the need for a package was amplified by its ubiquitous use in the radio-medical industry. Although Tc-99m is used in approximately 80% of the medical radioisotope procedures, it is almost universally shipped as Mo-99, with the Mo-99 then converted to Tc-99m near the point of use (e.g. at the doctor's office or hospital). This transport of Mo-66 with the subsequent conversion to Tc- 99m is because Mo-99 has a 66-hour half-life, while Tc-99m has only a 6-hour half-life. With the noted need for packaging to support Mo-99 shipments, a new cost-effective drum based packaging which could transport Type A quantities of liquids (including those with a high specific activity/gamma energy) for use on public highways and commercial aircraft was developed. Starting with the well analyzed design and analysis of a physically similar 'inner 30 gallons, outer 50 gallons' packaging (i.e. DOE 9979 package) certified for Type AF quantities of solids, this paper discusses the additional design, regulatory requirements, and tests associated in certifying the Heavily-shielded Type A Liquid-package (HVTAL). Based on analyses, the authorized content of the package was then expanded for additional Type A non-fissile liquids, including HLW supernatant. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

Adaptation of Commercially Available Robots for Conditioning and Packaging ILW at Sellafield - 18282

The Legacy Ponds and Silos at Sellafield site contain some of the most hazardous Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) in the UK. As part of a multi-billion pound decommissioning programme, this waste will be retrieved and transported across the site for conditioning and packaging in the Box Encapsulation Plant (BEP). Current plans are to commence plant active commissioning in 2022, which will represent a major milestone in the UK nuclear decommissioning programme. Within the plant, skips of waste will be transferred from the shielded transport package into standard 3 cubic metre ILW containers. Waste from the Pile Fuel Storage Pond and First Generation Magnox Storage Pond will be immobilised in cementitious grout before being transferred to an adjacent store. Waste from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo will not be immobilised in grout, but will be packaged, providing multi-barrier containment. During the concept design, the project team selected commercially available robots as the most viable technology for carrying out the numerous dexterous and repetitive tasks involved in characterising, conditioning and packaging the waste within the shielded 'hot' cells. Significant technical challenges had to be overcome during the design to adapt a commercially available robot for use within a high radiation / high contamination environment, where human access is not safe even for short periods of time. These challenges included: - Designing robot assemblies that could be retrofitted into the existing cell structure that was constructed as part of an earlier project but never completed; - Designing robot assemblies that could be recovered to their 'transport' position without requiring manual intervention; - Designing robot assemblies that could be remotely removed and replaced with new ones if they failed part way through the plant operational life; - Designing through-wall service and power connections that allow maintenance and recovery; - Designing control systems and human-machine interfaces that enable both manual and automated operation of the robot, whilst avoiding collisions with the in-cell cranes and other in cell furniture; - Assessing the radiation tolerance of all items. Bespoke computer simulations and full-scale development trials have been carried out, using non-active test materials, in order to demonstrate the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) required by Sellafield Limited (SL) at each stage of the project [1]. The results of these trials have been recorded in both video and written form so that they can form part of the project's Knowledge Management database. Detailed designs and specifications for the robot assemblies have been updated to incorporate the recommendations from the development trials. Procurement and manufacture of robot assemblies has already commenced to deliver two waste handling robots, two waste container lidding / swabbing robots and associated critical spares. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

The EMC: Development of a New Equipment for Recovering Old Nuclear Wastes From Fontenay-aux-Roses CEA Center - 18017 - 18471

The discharge of nuclear wastes from the Fontenay-aux-Roses CEA center, to conform with storage facilities, is a key issue of the cleaning and dismantling program, both for old nuclear wastes - produced during the R and D nuclear activities period-, and for the current wastes from the dismantling activities. In order to address this double issue, a new equipment, specific to mid-radiant and highly-radiant (MI/HI) solid wastes, is being designed by CEA. The Measurement and Conditioning Equipment, (EMC) aims at radiological characterization of wastes and their conditioning so that they respect the acceptance criteria of the storage facilities. The EMC is currently being studied and should be operated in 2020. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

Challenging Engineering Demographics and the READY Program - 18528

The mission of the Liquid Waste Organization at the Savannah River Site involves the safe storage of nuclear waste, closure of waste tanks, and immobilization of the waste into grout (low-level waste) or glass (high-level waste). With much of the mission left to complete and a significant percentage of the engineering organization eligible for retirement within the next 5 years, focus has been on recruiting and retaining new hires and early career engineers. Over the past two years, enhancements have been made to current programs and new programs have been created with the goal of improving the retention rate for engineering. These programs include the Reaching Engineers at the Development Years, the Early Career Professional Technology Exchange, the Shift Technical Engineer Pipeline, and Technical Staff Training. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2018

Meeting the Challenges, Exceeding Expectations in Radioactive Liquid Waste Work - 18657

The Savannah River Site (SRS) is an 803-square kilometer (310-square mile) U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) site located near Aiken, South Carolina, encompassing parts of Aiken, Barnwell, and Allendale counties. SRS is a key industrial complex responsible for environmental stewardship, environmental cleanup, waste management, and disposition of nuclear materials. The Site was constructed in the early 1950's in support of the United States' Cold War efforts. In July 2009, the DOE began a new era by awarding a stand-alone contract to execute the Liquid Waste Mission at SRS. The Liquid Waste Contractor is responsible for all liquid waste operations, including waste management, disposition, and management of all liquid waste facilities at SRS, as well as operationally closing high-level waste tanks. Currently, there are 43 operational underground storage tanks containing approximately 132.5 million liters (35 million gallons) of radioactive waste. Before tanks can be closed, work involves removing, stabilizing, and disposing of high- and low-level radioactive waste from the tanks. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Panel Session 68: Small Business Procurement and Contracting Opportunities Within the DOE Complex and USACE FUSRAP Program

This panel session was held in the Panel Zone in the Exhibit Hall and focused on small business procurement and contracting opportunities within the DOE Complex as well as the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) National Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) projects. Each panelist provided a general overview of their respective organization, small business goals and the success in meeting those goals. They further discussed recently awarded procurement, upcoming opportunities and provided additional contact information for individual small business program managers within their organization. This panel was open to all WM participants, including Exhibitors. This panel session focused on small business procurement and contracting opportunities within the DOE Complex and the USACE FUSRAP Program. The DOE and USACE contract directly with small businesses and encourage prime contractors to obtain goods and services from small and disadvantaged businesses (Tier 2) and often tie these goals to contract award fee. Goods and services being considered for these procurements include decontamination and decommissioning, remediation, transportation and disposal of radioactive waste, health physics, emergency response planning and training, lab services, R and D products, waste treatment, maintenance, A/E and professional consulting. This panel complemented Session 21 and Session 48, US DOE Spring Quarterly Forum, and Session 88 on Doing Business with the DOE. Presentations proposed include: 1 - Small Business Procurement and Contracting Opportunities Within the DOE Complex (Aaron Deckard, US DOE (USA)); 2 - Small Business Procurement and Contracting Opportunities Within the DOE Complex (William Badger, AECOM (USA)); 3 - Engineering the Extraordinary (Lisa Tribuce-Leoung Tat, Bechtel National, Inc. (USA)); 4 - Fluor Small Business Procurement and Contracting Opportunities (Debra Sampson, Fluor Government Group (USA)); 5 - HII Technical Solutions Division Small Business Opportunities (Kela Lofton, HII Nuclear Inc. (USA)); 6 - U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Radiological Remediation Work (Nicki Fatherly, USACE (USA))

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Progress on Advancing Robotic Ultrasonic Volumetric Inspection Technology for Hanford Under-tank Inspection - 19474

The Hanford River Protection Project is reliant on safe interim storage of high-level waste at the Hanford site and will continue to depend on it until the waste has been treated and vitrified by the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). The Hanford double-shell tanks (DSTs) have provided interim storage since the DSTs were put into service (1971 - 1986) and the RPP will continue to rely on their service until least 2050, at which time the 27 in-service DSTs will be 14-54 years beyond their original design lives. As the DSTs continue to age and be operated beyond design life, reliable leak integrity assessments of primary tanks and secondary liners will become increasingly important in order to provide situational awareness to tank operations personnel and to support risk-informed decisions on the selection of DSTs as waste feed staging tanks and the order and timing of future DST refurbishment or, alternatively, DST retrieval sequence. This paper summarizes progress made in fiscal year (FY) 2018 on the engineering of a robotic air-slot volumetric inspection system (RAVIS) that is designed to perform ultrasonic (volumetric) leak integrity inspections of physically inaccessible primary tank bottom plates and welds. Leak integrity inspections performed with the RAVIS will supplement today's primary tank leak integrity inspections, which are currently limited to physically accessible sidewall plates and welds. The RAVIS will be deployed into air slots of the insulating concrete (refractory) pad beneath the primary tanks and use its ultrasonic guided wave phased-array (GWPA) sensor to electronically steer an ultrasonic beam 360-degrees around the sensor to volumetrically examine adjacent carbon steel plates and welds covered by refractory pad material. Deployments of RAVIS down multiple air-slots will be performed to determine which regions of a tank bottom have sound leak integrity or which regions are in need of future wall thickness restoration or weld repair due to pitting corrosion, general corrosion, or heat/stress-induced cracks. The initial RAVIS design and the flaw detection test results for the first air-slot GWPA sensor that was designed to fit inside the air-slots will be presented in this paper. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Melter Modeling over a Range of Scales to Support Vitrification at the WTP - 19664

Computational modeling is a powerful complement to laboratory experiments and testing of systems at various scales. When properly applied and validated, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can provide information not readily obtainable by physical testing, especially in cases where the operating environment does not permit visual observation or the insertion of typical data acquisition instrumentation as in the case of waste glass vitrification. A series of CFD and heat transfer models over a range of scales are being developed to support melter operations at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. This paper provides a description of the models and the resulting information they provide that can be used to improve melter throughput, as well as aid in evaluating and resolving operating plant issues or upsets. This work is important for the WTP operation by providing a potential for model-predictive control of the melter operation. Increases in the rate of glass production and avoiding idling can significantly decrease the duration and cost of the vitrification campaign, potentially saving billions of dollars. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Waste Information Management System with 2019-20 Waste Streams - 20491

The Waste Information Management System (WIMS) 2019-20 was updated to support the Department of Energy (DOE) accelerated cleanup program. The schedule compression required close coordination and a comprehensive review and prioritization of the barriers that impeded treatment and disposition of the waste streams at each site. Many issues related to waste treatment and disposal were potential critical path issues under the accelerated schedule. In order to facilitate accelerated cleanup initiatives, waste managers at DOE field sites and at DOE Headquarters in Washington, D.C., needed timely waste forecast and transportation information regarding the volumes and types of radioactive waste that would be generated by DOE sites over the next 35 years. Each local DOE site historically collected, organized, and displayed waste forecast information in separate and unique systems. In order for interested parties to understand and view the complete DOE complex-wide picture, the radioactive waste and shipment information of each DOE site needed to be entered into a common application. The WIMS application was therefore created to serve as a common application to improve stakeholder comprehension and improve DOE radioactive waste treatment and disposal planning and scheduling. WIMS allows identification of total forecasted waste volumes, material classes, disposition sites, choke points, technological or regulatory barriers to treatment and disposal, along with forecasted waste transportation information by rail, truck and intermodal shipments. The Applied Research Center (ARC) at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida, developed and deployed the web-based forecast and transportation system and is responsible for updating the radioactive waste forecast and transportation data on a regular basis to ensure the long-term viability and value of this system. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Panel Session 2: Hot Topics in US DOE Environmental Management

The well-attended Panel Session was chaired by Martin Schneider. The four panelists did not provide presentations. Rather the session was a discussion focusing on pressing issues facing US DOE Environmental Management (EM) sites and how the program is moving forward. The session began by momentarily reflecting on a success: the three Tank Waste Treatment Facilities will soon be coming online. These three facilities will treat as much waste in two years as was treated in the past 30 years. That is a significant milestone in progress. Also, safety enhancements at WIPP are a big success. The panelists noted that there will be challenges with the victories of the startup of the Waste Treatment Facilities. Treating tank waste is the last EM mission and will help with the relationships with the stakeholders, regulators and Congress. One of the biggest challenges will be moving back to full operation mode. Although the operation will increase productivity of reducing/managing the tank waste, it will decrease life cycle cost and lessen years of cleanup. The challenge will be having people understand that EM will be operating 24/7 and that maintenance will be key in keeping the operations. EM will be working together with the regulators to show tangible progress that will be effective and efficient. By working together, they can find opportunities/technologies for streamlining and accelerating cleanup. Recent changes to the regulatory framework between DOE-EM Los Alamos Field Office and New Mexico Environmental Department have helped cleanup in Los Alamos. Every year EM and the agencies review progress and come to agreements on the next work priorities. At Savannah River Site, the Federal Facility Agreement among EM, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a small core team that work are shared by together in resolving issues that come up. The discussion moved on to how progress can be made by sharing lessons learned among the contractors. An example of how these learned lessons can be shared is that key representatives from projects across the EM sites participate in various forums to review/contribute to the work planned. Other opportunities can be by temporary assignments of DOE staff to gain experience and by monthly EM Headquarters report that provide the lessons learned across the EM sites. The panelists discussed how skyline changes are the best examples of tangible progress. Decontamination and Demolition (D and D) of structures are the easiest tangible progress that can be seen. Whereas tank waste cleanup is the hardest to see. Disposal of waste onsite versus offsite is another challenge, and timely discussions are necessary to get to the best value to the government.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Session 059 - Panel: Small Business Procurement and Contracting Opportunities within the US DOE Complex and USACE FUSRAP Sites (R1.7)

This panel session focused on small business procurement and contracting opportunities within the DOE Complex and USACE FUSRAP Sites. The federal government encourages prime contractors to obtain goods and services from small and disadvantaged businesses (Tier 2) and often tie these goals to contract award fee. Goods and services being considered for these procurements include decontamination and decommissioning, remediation, transportation and disposal of radioactive waste, health physics, emergency response planning and training, lab services, R and D products, waste treatment, maintenance, A/E and professional consulting. Panelists with presentations: Small Business Procurement and Contracting Opportunities within the US DOE Complex and USACE FUSRAP Program (Aaron Deckard; Subcontracting Opportunities with the DOE Primes (William Badger); Bechtel National, Inc. Small Business Opportunities (Lisa Tribuce-Leoung Tat); Small Business Procurement and Contracting Opportunities (Gina Joiner); Small Business Procurement and Contracting Opportunities - Flour (Katy Burnau); Environmental WORK, Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) (John Busse)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Hanford Immobilized Low-Activity Waste Transportation System Testing Results - 20043

The immobilized low-activity waste (ILAW) transportation system is a first-of-a-kind system that is being designed and tested to transport ILAW glass-filled containers from Hanford's Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility to the Integrated Disposal Facility (IDF) burial trench for permanent disposal. A prototype design and fabrication of one transport trailer and four engineered ILAW pallets was completed in mid-2018. Prototype qualification testing to verify adequacy of the design was completed in 2019 by Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and affiliate ATKINS SNC-Lavalin Group. Prototype testing was completed to advance design maturation across all operational and facility interfaces, and under adverse environmental and operating conditions, including thermal assessment of the system at peak projected temperatures. Test design, observation, and feedback was well represented and supported by all ILAW Transportation System interfacing organizations: WTP constructor Bechtel National, Inc.; IDF operator CH2M (CHPRC); transportation contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA); the U. S. Department of Energy Richland Operations Office (DOE/RL) and Office of River Protection (DOE/ORP); and Washington State Department of Ecology. This paper presents the results of prototype qualification testing and opportunities for design improvements based on testing. Changes to the final design as a result of prototype testing include improvements in safety, ergonomics, operational flexibility, and As-Low-As-Reasonably-Achievable (ALARA) applications. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Technology Development for Under Tank Inspection of Double-Shell Tanks - 20045

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of River Protection (DOE-ORP) is responsible for management and cleanup of the tank farms located at the Hanford Site. Nuclear waste at Hanford is stored in 149 single-shell tanks (SSTs) and 27 double-shell tanks (DSTs). The vast majority of the liquid radioactive waste is stored in the DSTs. The 27 DSTs, located in six tank farms, were constructed from 1967 to 1986 and, compared to the SSTs, provide greatly improved protection from leakage and better accessibility for inspection. The DSTs and ancillary equipment are expected to exceed their design life before their waste is removed and sent to the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. The DST Integrity Project (DSTIP) must ensure that the DST system can meet the River Protection Project mission goals. This paper provides a programmatic overview of the DSTIP with a focus on development of under-tank inspection technologies. Currently, two categories of nondestructive examination (NDE) techniques for DSTs are implemented on the Hanford site: (1) surface (SNDE) and (2) volumetric (VNDE). Further discussion on current inspection techniques is provided in this paper. The technology development approach for advanced VNDE techniques will also be generally discussed as a precursor for another more detailed WM2020 paper and presentation by PNNL. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Corrective Maintenance Paradigm Shift at Hanford's Tank Farms - 20077

Hanford's Tank Farms facilities have been used to safely store waste for over 70 years, with the first single-shell tanks being constructed in 1943. Tank Farm facilities consist of 149 single-shell tanks, 28 double-shell tanks, an evaporator facility, and wastewater treatment facilities. Tank Farm facilities are aging, with a tremendous corrective maintenance burden on the Tank Farm contractor. The mission of Tank Farm facilities is soon changing from waste storage to waste staging for the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). WTP operations will demand a significant increase in Tank Farm facility operations, in which corrective maintenance outage windows will shrink drastically. This realization has forced the Tank Farm contractor to consider a paradigm shift in Tank Farm facilities Maintenance planning, and the use of reliability Engineering tools. The Tank Farm Production Operations Engineering Cognizant System Engineering (CSE) organization has led the way in motivating this paradigm shift. This shift has been realized through the use of: 1) technical exchange with other Department of Energy (DOE) contractors to develop improvements in the CSE program, 2) a shift from the use of lagging to leading system health indicators, and 3) a Plant Health Committee to unite Engineering, Operations, and Maintenance personnel toward a productive maintenance strategy. The CSE organization has held several technical exchanges with other DOE contractors to discuss CSE concepts, and how to better maintain aging infrastructure. The technical exchange with other contractors has greatly reduced the time required to make improvements in the Tank Farm CSE program. Other DOE contractors have already faced issues surrounding aging infrastructure, and have vast experience in improving the reliability and usable life of structures and components in nuclear facilities. The past CSE program used lagging health indicators to determine the health of systems. The key lagging indicator used to determine system health was availability, which is the percentage of time that a facility was ready for operation compared to the time the facility was demanded for operation. Availability was a good indicator of health in the waste storage mission of Tank Farms, where safe storage was the most important function of the facility, and where maintenance outage windows were typically long-duration. In current and future operations, outage windows are reducing, resulting in the need for much more reliable systems. Systems that have had high availability may suddenly become inoperable due to a failed component or sub-system. In several instances, the use of availability as an indicator of system health failed to predict system/equipment failure before its occurrence. In discussions with other DOE contractors, a set of reliability tools, including leading indicators of health, has been implemented in the CSE program. This primarily involves the use of failure modes and effects analysis and the study of equipment failure to develop system monitoring plans that focus on trending data to detect oncoming equipment failure ahead of time. In addition, the use of a Plant Health Committee has added significantly to the paradigm shift from a corrective maintenance philosophy to the use of predictive and preventive maintenance. The Plant Health Committee is a chartered team consisting of Engineering, Operations, and Maintenance personnel. CSEs use this forum to present the results of their performance monitoring, including the presentation of health via leading health indicators. The most positive aspect of this committee is the communication that it creates within these critical organizations. The Operations and Maintenance organization benefit from focusing maintenance on the reliability-centered focus provided by Engineering. Engineering benefits from the operational experience of the Operations organization and from the failure data that can be provided by Maintenance personnel. The continued use of the Plant Health Committee is expected to further decrease maintenance outage times, in better support of oncoming 24/7 operations. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Testing of Crystalline Silicotitanate to Support Tank-Side Cesium Removal System Operations - 20458

The direct feed of waste from the Hanford tank farms to the Low-Activity Waste Facility at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant requires an intermediate treatment step that prepares the waste for vitrification. Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) selected a near-tank treatment system known as the Tank-Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system to perform the required intermediate treatment functions. The approach in the TSCR system is to filter waste supernatant with a sintered metal dead-end filter and then use a series of ion exchange columns to remove cesium; this system has several similarities to the Tank Closure Cesium Removal system that has been deployed on the Savannah River Site. The ion exchange media proposed for use is crystalline silicotitanate (CST), which is a non-elutable media with a high affinity for cesium. Because the media is non-elutable, loaded columns will be blown down with compressed air, moved into interim storage, and replaced with new columns when cesium capacity is reached. The assumed extent and rate of drying that could be achieved in the TSCR column geometry lacked confirmation by experimental data. In addition, once the columns are loaded with cesium, they generate flammable gases (primarily hydrogen) via radiolysis acting on any resident liquids, i.e., moisture, remaining in the media bed. An assessment of available information on CST concluded that gas generation data that bounds expected operational conditions were needed to support the TSCR system safety basis and planned operations. Working with WRPS, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) designed and conducted testing with CST media to address the need for (a) representative in-column drying data, and (b) bounding flammable gas generation data. Drying testing was performed using a full-height column with a diameter of approximately 2 inches with injected air at temperatures of 18 deg. C and 30 deg. C. Gas generation testing was conducted in an engineered bunker that allowed simultaneous irradiation of up to eight samples at a time. These two experimental approaches used at PNNL for the CST testing are summarized and the major outcomes are presented. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2016

Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of a Pilot-Scale Waste Glass Melter

The INL has been developing a high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a Joule-heated ceramic-lined waste glass melter. The purpose is to better understand the dynamics of heat transfer within the system, in order to provide support for the optimization of the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) that will be used for vitrification of legacy tank waste. The simulation presented here is for the DM1200 pilot-scale system, which has been operated by the Vitreous State Laboratory (VSL) over the past several decades. This system is about one-third of the scale of the full size WTP melter. Experimental data from this system is being used to validate computational simulations. The examination of the melter with a fully coupled CFD model should give an accurate assessment of the heat transfer into the reactive cold cap region. Heat is provided to the cold cap region from conduction and convection from the molten glass pool as well as radiation from the hot plenum above the cold cap. The CFD model implements a mathematical model of the cold cap developed for the assessment of the melting rate during the vitrification of tank waste. This sub-model implemented directly into the CFD model combines the mass and enthalpy balance of the cold cap together with the conversion kinetics of the feed. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗