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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

Annotated Bibliography for Drying Nuclear Fuel

Internationally, the nuclear industry is represented by both commercial utilities and research institutions. Over the past two decades many of these entities have had to relocate inventories of spent nuclear fuel from underwater storage to dry storage. These efforts were primarily prompted by two factors: insufficient storage capacity (potentially precipitated by an open-ended nuclear fuel cycle) or deteriorating quality of existing underwater facilities. The intent of developing this bibliography is to assess what issues associated with fuel drying have been identified, to consider where concerns have been satisfactorily addressed, and to recommend where additional research would offer the most value to the commercial industry and the U. S. Department of Energy.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Thermal Evaluations for Hypothetically Drain-Down Spent Fuel Storage Facility at SRS

The L-Area Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) underwater storage facility at Savannah River Site (SRS), referred to as L-Basin SNF facility, has an array of Vertical Tube Storage (VTS) racks and a group of High Flux Irradiation Reactor (HFIR) fuel cores. The underwater facility is integrally designed as a wet SNF storage system with a chemically-controlled water pool. The SNF storage racks are seismically qualified. The L-Basin pool holds about 3.4 million gallons of water with concrete wall thickness of about 5 ft and water depths of 17 ft to 30 ft. The facility has mainly two different elevation levels of 30 ft and 17 ft below the ground level. At the level 30 ft below the ground, a maximum of 110 racks of VTS and 5 racks of Dry Cave can be stored. At the level of 17 ft below the ground, 120 HFIR cores can be stored, considering that each rack contains two HFIR cores. In case of a hypothetical accident, all cooling water in the storage pool may be drained away, resulting in dry SNF storage condition. The primary objective of the work is to estimate the maximum fuel temperature in a conservative manner when the L-Basin facility is completely dry due to the hypothetical drain-down of the pool water. A three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling approach was taken for the thermal evaluations of the water-drained SNF storage facility. The modeling calculations were performed, assuming that all of the storage racks in L-Basin are fully loaded with SNF assemblies containing decay heat sources. In the case of full loading, the L-Basin facility stores 14,600 SNF assemblies in VTS racks and 120 cores in HFIR racks. The thermal analysis results of the L-Basin model yielded maximum temperatures of VTS and HFIR fuel assemblies for different fuel loading scenarios and boundary conditions of the SNF storage racks.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2012

Annual Adaptive Management Report for Compensatory Mitigation at Keyport Lagoon: Mitigation of Pier B Development at the Bremerton Naval Facilities - Compensatory Mitigation at Keyport Lagoon - Naval Underwater Warfare Center Division - Keyport, Washington

Unites States Navy capital improvement projects are designed to modernize and improve mission capacity. Such capital improvement projects often result in unavoidable environmental impacts by increasing over-water structures, which results in a loss of subtidal habitat within industrial areas of Navy bases. In the Pacific Northwest, compensatory mitigation often targets alleviating impacts to Endangered Species Act-listed salmon species. The complexity of restoring large systems requires limited resources to target successful and more coordinated mitigation efforts to address habitat loss and improvements in water quality that will clearly contribute to an improvement at the site scale and can then be linked to a cumulative net ecosystem improvement.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

A Multi-Methods Approach to HRA and Human Performance Modeling: A Field Assessment

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is a research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory is primarily designed and used to test materials to be used in other, larger-scale and prototype reactors. The reactor offers various specialized systems and allows certain experiments to be run at their own temperature and pressure. The ATR Canal temporarily stores completed experiments and used fuel. It also has facilities to conduct underwater operations such as experiment examination or removal. In reviewing the ATR safety basis, a number of concerns were identified involving the ATR canal. A brief study identified ergonomic issues involving the manual handling of fuel elements in the canal that may increase the probability of human error and possible unwanted acute physical outcomes to the operator. In response to this concern, that refined the previous HRA scoping analysis by determining the probability of the inadvertent exposure of a fuel element to the air during fuel movement and inspection was conducted. The HRA analysis employed the SPAR-H method and was supplemented by information gained from a detailed analysis of the fuel inspection and transfer tasks. This latter analysis included ergonomics, work cycles, task duration, and workload imposed by tool and workplace characteristics, personal protective clothing, and operational practices that have the potential to increase physical and mental workload. Part of this analysis consisted of NASA-TLX analyses, combined with operational sequence analysis, computational human performance analysis (CHPA), and 3D graphical modeling to determine task failures and precursors to such failures that have safety implications. Experience in applying multiple analysis techniques in support of HRA methods is discussed.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Modular Undersea Compressed Air Energy Storage (UCAES) System

This project has been devoted to the design, optimization, and cost analysis of a unique power plant with integral energy storage. The proposed facility combines a novel underwater compressed air energy storage (UCAES) system with a customized gas turbine generator, providing exceptional power management and overall efficiency. Unlike conventional CAES, opportunities for underwater storage are plentiful and proximal to the power grid. The UCAES system provides coastal and island communities a practical means for managing the volatility of large-scale wind and solar power resources. The result is higher renewable energy absorption and improved electrical reliability with reduced fossil fuel consumption. The UCAES power plant is composed of three major subsystems: The underwater air containment system (ACS), the air transport pipe (ATP), and the land-based power conversion system (PCS). The underwater ACS is made up of modular concrete shell units, structurally optimized for minimal material usage while employing conventional production methods and equipment. Each shell is designed to receive and control loose fill or gravel, serving as the ballast. The static nature of the final structures make them an asset to marine habitats and includes features intended to permit safe and cost-effective deployment. The ATP Connects the ACS modules to each other and to the on-land power conversion system and utilizes high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe for low cost and long life. The PCS Houses the turbine-generator ‘expander modules’, with peak capacity of 12.3 MWe each, engineered from existing gas turbine equipment and includes electrically driven commercial 3-stage intercooled centrifugal compressors, each nominally drawing 6.6 MWe when matching the turbine flow requirements. The subsystems listed above are designed with the intent to serve as building-blocks to achieve a peak power output rating in the 40 to 120 MWe range, with 0.25 to 4 hours of energy storage capacity. The modular facility with integral energy storage provides some remarkable transient maneuvers and load-following features unachievable by competing technologies. The system can operate as a dispatchable power plant with a fuel-to-electric efficiency over 41%; substantially better that the average existing Hawaiian peak power generation assets. Optimal efficiency can be maintained while load-following due to modular PCS design and is operable with a range of liquid or gaseous fuels while meeting the most stringent California (CARB) emission standards. The system can operate as a peaking energy plant in discharge mode. Power ramp-up equivalent to 215% of continuous load rating within 1 second accomplished by simply turning off the electric compressor(s). Contrarily, the system can offer energy absorption during periods of grid surplus generation. The electric compressors may be sequenced on to absorb power within seconds. More moderate transitions are easily achieved with standard compressor control functions. The system offers unique features as compared to energy storage systems. ‘Round-trip efficiency’, as calculated by industry standard methods, is in the 90% range. The PCS equipment has a mean-time between overhauls of 80,000 hours, with maintenance costs of less than $0.005/kW-hr of electricity delivered. The underwater ACS structures and piping employ materials and designs specified to achieve a 75 year life. With the underwater containment modules qualified as a marine habitat, there would be no decommissioning costs. In conjunction with the engineering work invested in the design of the UCAES power plant, Brayton Energy has employed a team of manufacturing specialists, marine construction engineers, and power industry experts to create a comprehensive economic model that captures the many site-related variables and configuration options. The cost results and methodology have been validated by suppliers, engineers, and deployment specialists through a detailed case study on Hawaii. While creation of the parametric cost model was based on inputs specific to Hawaii, the proposed construction and deployment steps were chosen to be general enough to allow extrapolation across locations world-wide. Analysis of the proposed system shows it to be a viable option and addresses the principal challenges described by the Department of Energy by offering competitive costs, validated safety and reliability, consideration of the regulatory environment, and utilization of industry accepted practices and equipment. The UCAES system is recommended for immediate consideration in Hawaii. Estimation of time to complete planning, design, and construction of the facility is anticipated to take 3 to 5 years. Other coastal and island communities world-wide should realize similar benefits; as the results presented in this report are considered generally transferable to other locations.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2013

Successful Deployment of System for the Storage and Retrieval of Spent/Used Nuclear Fuel from Hanford K-West Fuel Storage Basin-13051

In 2012, a system was deployed to remove, transport, and interim store chemically reactive and highly radioactive sludge material from the Hanford Site's 105-K West Fuel Storage Basin that will be managed as spent/used nuclear fuel. The Knockout Pot (KOP) sludge in the 105-K West Basin was a legacy issue resulting from the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) washing process applied to 2200 metric tons of highly degraded fuel elements following long-term underwater storage. The washing process removed uranium metal and other non-uranium constituents that could pass through a screen with 0.25-inch openings; larger pieces are, by definition, SNF or fuel scrap. When originally retrieved, KOP sludge contained pieces of degraded uranium fuel ranging from 600 microns (μm) to 6350 μm mixed with inert material such as aluminum hydroxide, aluminum wire, and graphite in the same size range. In 2011, a system was developed, tested, successfully deployed and operated to pre-treat KOP sludge as part of 105-K West Basin cleanup. The pretreatment process successfully removed the vast majority of inert material from the KOP sludge stream and reduced the remaining volume of material by approximately 65 percent, down to approximately 50 liters of material requiring management as used fuel. The removal of inert material resulted in significant waste minimization and project cost savings because of the reduced number of transportation/storage containers and improvement in worker safety. The improvement in worker safety is a result of shorter operating times and reduced number of remote handled shipments to the site fuel storage facility. Additionally in 2011, technology development, final design, and cold testing was completed on the system to be used in processing and packaging the remaining KOP material for removal from the basin in much the same manner spent fuel was removed. This system was deployed and successfully operated from June through September 2012, to remove and package the last of the SNF fragments from the 105-K West Basin, ending the long and complex history of the KOP sludge materials. The planning and execution of this project demonstrated how the graded application of DOE O 413.3B, Program and Project Management for the Acquisition of Capital Assets[1], DOE-STD-1189-2008, Integration of Safety into the Design Process[2], and DOE G 413.3-4, U.S. Department of Energy Technology Readiness Assessment Guide[3], can positively affect the outcome of project implementation in the DOE Complex. Provided herein are relevant information, ideas, and tools for use by other projects facing similar issues in managing high risk waste streams in a complex regulatory environment. Positive aspects are also provided of appropriate time spent in detailed planning, design, and testing in non-hazardous environments to reduce project risks in both cost and safety performance, as well as improving confidence in meeting project goals through predictable and reliable performance. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

Scalable Graphene Oxide Hollow Fiber Membranes for Dye Desalination Enabled by Multi‐Purpose Polyamine Functionalization

2D nanosheets such as graphene oxide (GO) can be stacked to construct membranes with fine-tuned nanochannels to achieve molecular sieving ability. These membranes are often thin to achieve high water permeance, but their fabrication with consistent nanostructures on a large scale presents an enormous challenge. Herein, GO-based hollow fiber membranes (HFMs) are developed for dye desalination by synergistically combining chemical etching to form in-plane nanopores (10–30 nm) to increase water permeance and polyamine functionalization to improve underwater stability and enable facile large-scale production using existing membrane manufacturing processes. HFM modules with areas of 88 cm 2 and GO layer thicknesses of ≈500 nm are fabricated, and they exhibited a stable dye water permeance of 75 L m −2 h −1 bar −1 , rejection of >99.5% for Direct red and Congo red, and Na 2 SO 4 /dye separation factor of 300–500, superior to state-of-the-art commercial membranes. Furthermore, the versatility of this approach is also demonstrated using different short polyamines and porous substrates. This study reveals a scalable way of designing 2D materials into high-performance robust membranes for practical applications.

amine functionalization↗
DOE OSTI2023

Towards assessing the impact of anthropogenic sound on fishes: Gaps, perspectives, and a case study of a large floating bridge

Underwater anthropogenic sound can cause physical, physiological, and behavioral impacts on fishes. With the development of marine energy facilities, the impact of man-made underwater sound on fishes has become a growing regulatory concern. Large gaps remain in how to perform an underwater sound assessment. Such gaps mainly reside in scientific evidence, regulatory criteria, sound characterization metrics, sound field modeling, and instrumentation for field measurement. Here, this paper reviewed existing work on underwater sound assessment for fishes to identify critical gaps and provide perspectives on how to deal with these gaps, demonstrated with a case study on the impact of the Hood Canal Bridge traffic sound on migrating steelhead smolts in Washington State, U.S. We also provide perspectives on future research directions to bridge the identified gaps for aquatic ecological assessment.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Analysis of SHDAS Platform Evaluation at PSRF

The Seismo-Hydroacoustic Data Acquisition System (SHDAS) is undergoing evaluation in preparation for its engineering, development, and deployment by the U.S Navy as an ocean bottom seismic monitoring system. A prototype of the Underwater Platform has been deployed at the Pinedale Seismic Research Facility (PSRF) in Wyoming to determine how well it couples to the ground for the purpose of measuring ground motion. The evaluation was conducted during the summer of 2014 by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, RP Kromer Consulting, and other contractors. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) was asked to analyze and interpret the collected data so as to comment on coupling of the Underwater Platform to the ground.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2019

Development of Waste Disposal Strategy for RH LLW Stored in the ATR Canal - 19453

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR), located at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), is 250 megawatt research reactor designed and operated for the United States Department of Energy for irradiation testing of advanced nuclear fuels and material samples. The pressurized light-water moderated and cooled reactor achieved criticality in 1967. It is designed to allow high neutron flux irradiation of structural materials and nuclear fuels to replicate long-term exposure of materials in traditional lower-flux reactor cores. The ATR also produces rare isotopes for the use in the medical and other industries. The ATR is one of only four reactors in the world with this high-flux irradiation capability. Adjacent to the ATR is a water-filled canal which is used to handle casks, prepare experiments, perform irradiation experiments, and store irradiated components generated from reactor operations. The canal is used to store irradiated (activated) metals that are subsequently determined to be waste. In many instances, these items are too radioactive to remove from the canal and remain in temporary storage until a sufficient decay period has elapsed to where they can be safely removed. The more highly-radioactive remote-handled (RH) waste items requiring hundreds of years to decay have been in storage in the canal since the first ATR core internal changeout (CIC) which was conducted in the 1970's. The INL has recently completed construction and startup of a new Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste (RH LLW) Disposal Facility, which will serve as the final disposal capability for legacy RH (greater than 200 mR/hr on contact) metal waste currently stored in the canal. The ATR will need to develop a method for packaging, characterizing, removing, and shipping this material to the new disposal facility. Based on the configuration of the new disposal cells at the RH LLW Disposal Facility, the ATR must produce an entire new process for handing and packaging the legacy RH waste and preparing it for transport and final disposal. The ATR Canal RH LLW Cleanup Project scope is to develop the processes, tools, and equipment for safely sizing, packaging, and removing RH LLW from the canal. This paper presents highlights and challenges the project faces to develop and implement this capability: - Designing new tools, fabricating new equipment, and implementing new processes at an active Hazard Category-I nuclear facility. - Ensuring new equipment and tools are compatible with the existing equipment and processes at both the generator and the disposal facilities. - Sizing legacy waste under water using remote tools and equipment to minimize void space in waste disposal canisters while ensuring as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) goals are met. - Loading waste containers underwater and preparing them to meet the liquid-free criteria of the disposal facility waste acceptance criteria (WAC). - Providing a new shielded transport container to transfer waste from ATR to the new on-site RH LLW Disposal Facility. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

An integrated equipment for massive segmentation and packaging of control Rod Guide Tubes - 15161

Over time, some utilities have decided to undergo safety upgrades that include replacement of some ageing components like control rod guide tubes (GT's). GT's are safety related components because they control the path of the control rods into and out of the core. These components are usually stored underwater in interim storage pools to decay their radioactivity. When the interim storage facility reaches saturation, treatment and final disposal of the retired Guide Tubes needs to be performed. Based on more than 30 years of experience and lessons learned in the development of segmentation and packaging technologies for nuclear components, Westinghouse has designed, commissioned and will operate a dedicated system for cutting and packaging retired GT's from 900 MW plants, currently stored in a EDF maintenance facility located in the south of France. The first main technical challenge was the waste volume optimization. Two separate waste streams had to be considered for coping with the highly irradiated portion of the GT's (lower part) and the very low level waste sections (upper part). The segmentation plan has been designed to minimize the waste volume of the highly irradiated waste and therefore develop a process which could be adapted to the container size specified by EDF. Metallic baskets have been designed to optimize the packaging and storage density in the containers. All cutting techniques previously used by Westinghouse in similar applications were assessed and underwater mechanical cutting with a band saw was selected as the preferred method. A turning stand positions the GT in front of the band saw. When the cut is completed, the remnant GT is inserted into the next turning stand for the next cut. Each cell of the turning stand positions the GT at the pre-defined cutting height. An integrated water filtration system is used to ensure good visibility during the cutting operations and to minimize water volume and limit the final liquid effluents. The whole process of GT insertion, cutting, packaging and waste conditioning is carried out in a hot cell and controlled remotely. The operator can therefore follow the packaging plan accurately and safely by using a four axis pick and place unit, while keeping personal radiation exposure low. This innovative process allows cutting and packaging large quantities of GT's in a safe and efficient manner. The pilot project covers the segmentation of 93 GT's but it can be further used for cutting larger quantities of retired GT's resulting from the upcoming GT replacement campaigns. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

Foreword: Message From the MTS Journal Editor

Here, it is my pleasure to present this general issue to the MTS community. This general issue features manuscripts on a variety of topics of interest to the MTS community including articles, reviews, and commentaries: technology gaps for monitoring birds and marine mammals at offshore wind facilities; adaptive tracking of the Barents Sea polar front using an autonomous underwater vehicle; advanced simulation and environmental impact assessment of combustion in maritime energy systems; performance of moored real time ocean observations during Cyclones in the Bay of Bengal; recent advances in assessing environmental effects of marine renewable energy; and the new blue economy and future for marine renewable energy.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Stable yet hydrophilic graphene oxide nanomembranes by zwitterionic reduction for dye desalination

Holey graphene oxide (HGO) nanosheets have emerged as a promising membrane platform for dye desalination, and they must be reduced to enhance hydrophobicity and stability for long-term underwater operation, which usually decreases water and salt permeance. Herein, we develop a facile method to stabilize HGO nanosheets while retaining their hydrophilicity by reducing them with sulfobetaine amine (SBAm, a superhydrophilic zwitterion), achieving high water and salt permeance and a high salt/dye separation factor. Specifically, HGO nanosheets react with SBAm via an amine-epoxide reaction, rendering reduced HGO nanosheets containing superhydrophilic zwitterions. The effects of in-plane pores, zwitterion content, and layer thickness on the membrane chemistry, structure, and salt/dye separation properties of the SBAm-reduced HGOs (SHGOs) are thoroughly examined. The membrane achieves a Na 2 SO 4 /Direct red separation factor of up to 850, surpassing the state-of-the-art GO membranes. Moreover, hollow fiber membrane modules based on SHGOs are fabricated and exhibit stable performance in multi-cycle tests over 100 h of operation with mixed dye-salt solutions, demonstrating the scalability of our approach and its potential for practical applications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development of Remote Cutting Tools for use at ATR - 20438

As a result of years of operations of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Lab (INL), the ATR canal has become congested due to the storage of materials including waste consisting of highly irradiated remote handled (RH) metals. In order to support its continuing nuclear mission the ATR requires canal space to support fuel storage and future core internal change out (CIC) components. INL staff determined that the canal must be cleaned out and waste removed to efficiently utilize the valuable canal floor space. It was determined that a methodology for processing, packaging, characterizing, and removing current and future irradiated hardware from the ATR canal is needed. Orano Federal Services (OFS) and its subcontractor Babcock Services Inc. (BSI) were selected to provide remote tooling in order to safely and efficiently size reduce the material currently stored in the ATR canal. INL developed detailed requirements that established the design and performance requirements for the tooling. Orano TN and BSI had recently successfully completed similar tasks in clearing highly activated materials from spent fuel pools and canals at commercial nuclear plants. That experience directly translated into a proven approach that could be used at the ATR thereby saving time and money and lowering risks. Based on BSI's demonstrated proficiency in the design and deployment of remote size reduction specialty tooling at comparable commercial facilities, Orano Federal Services was confident that a solution to INL's requirements could be delivered. The tooling had to be designed to be compatible with the operational requirements of the ATR canal as well as the functionality needed by the facility operators that will use the equipment. Some of the major design requirements and functions of the equipment included remote operations, capability to shear highly irradiated sections of aluminum and steel tubing, pipe, and components ranging in size from 0.6 cm to 16.5 cm diameter into 1.5 m -1.8 m lengths, utilizing buoyancy compensation to assist with underwater operations, and use commercially available existing technology and components as much as practical. The design team evaluated and selected commercially available equipment that could be modified to meet the design and performance specifications. In addition, a waste sizing table (WST) was designed and fabricated to further ensure the size reduction equipment would perform as expected and give the facility operators a stable and usable remote, underwater work platform. After successful development of the tooling, a mock up test and operator training was conducted to ensure the tooling performed as expected and met the requirements of INL. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2015

Use of the underwater collimated spectrometric system for survey of storage ponds of research VVR-2 and or reactors - 15118

Spent nuclear fuel removal activities in the National Research Centre 'Kurchatov Institute' were resumed in 2004. During the last two years, removal was performed of the spent nuclear fuel from the VVR-2 and OR reactor installations, whose storage facilities are located within the Gas Plant complex. The Gas Plant complex is the experimental base of the Institute of Nuclear Reactors, which is part of the 'Kurchatov Institute'. The complex features four storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel, one in a dedicated building for storage of spent nuclear fuel and solid rad-waste and three in the reactor building. They are sub-surface vessels filled with water (the volume of water in each is about 6 m{sup 3}), closed with top shielding slabs. Some spent fuel assemblies and fuel elements stored are resized, deformed, or have defective claddings. In the course of works on removal from ponds of the spent nuclear fuel, its fragments could get to water. The bottoms of ponds storage are covered with a deposit. The bottom of ponds and water are possible to be pollution by fission products. The survey objective was to find uranium-containing materials (elements of irradiated nuclear fuel) at the bottom of the ponds and evaluation of surface activity of fission products. To solve this problem was used the underwater collimated spectrometric system on the basis of a semiconductor detector CdZnTe (volume of a crystal of 20 mm{sup 3}) and a multichannel analyzer InSpector 2000. The detector with the collimator is placed in the waterproof case on which the video camera fastens. The principle of detection of uranium-containing materials is based on the identification of the characteristic peaks in the spectra of uranium radiation measurements in the energy range 95 - 115 keV. The results of the most representative measurements at the bottom of reactor ponds are given. The received results are discussed; comparison of results between in-site pond measurements and gamma spectrometric and radiochemical analysis of the water in the lab is carried out. The received results will be used for scheduling on pond cleaning. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2011

TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF SYSTEMS FOR THE RETRIEVAL AND PROCESSING OF REMOTE-HANDLED SLUDGE FROM HANFORD K-WEST FUEL STORAGE BASIN

In 2011, significant progress was made in developing and deploying technologies to remove, transport, and interim store remote-handled sludge from the 105-K West Fuel Storage Basin on the Hanford Site in south-central Washington State. The sludge in the 105-K West Basin is an accumulation of degraded spent nuclear fuel and other debris that collected during long-term underwater storage of the spent fuel. In 2010, an innovative, remotely operated retrieval system was used to successfully retrieve over 99.7% of the radioactive sludge from 10 submerged temporary storage containers in the K West Basin. In 2011, a full-scale prototype facility was completed for use in technology development, design qualification testing, and operator training on systems used to retrieve, transport, and store highly radioactive K Basin sludge. In this facility, three separate systems for characterizing, retrieving, pretreating, and processing remote-handled sludge were developed. Two of these systems were successfully deployed in 2011. One of these systems was used to pretreat knockout pot sludge as part of the 105-K West Basin cleanup. Knockout pot sludge contains pieces of degraded uranium fuel ranging in size from 600 {mu}m to 6350 {mu}m mixed with pieces of inert material, such as aluminum wire and graphite, in the same size range. The 2011 pretreatment campaign successfully removed most of the inert material from the sludge stream and significantly reduced the remaining volume of knockout pot product material. Removing the inert material significantly minimized the waste stream and reduced costs by reducing the number of transportation and storage containers. Removing the inert material also improved worker safety by reducing the number of remote-handled shipments. Also in 2011, technology development and final design were completed on the system to remove knockout pot material from the basin and transport the material to an onsite facility for interim storage. This system is scheduled for deployment in 2012. The prototype facility also was used to develop technology for systems to retrieve remote-handled transuranic sludge smaller than 6350 {mu}m being stored in underwater containers. After retrieving the sludge, the system will be used to load and transport the sludge for interim storage. During 2011, full-scale prototype systems were developed and tested to a Technology Readiness Level 6 as defined by U.S. Department of Energy standards. This system is scheduled for deployment in 2013. Operations also are scheduled for completion in 2014.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗