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Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Dr. E. Linn Draper Jr. joined the American Nuclear Society in 1970. He was elected the 31st president of the Society in 1985. He has been involved since his initial joining with the Education, Training & Workforce Development and Fuel Cycle & Waste Management Divisions.
He began his career in the nuclear field at the University of Texas at Austin where he was director of the Nuclear Reactor Laboratory and the Nuclear Engineering program. He worked there for 10 years. He left them to join Gulf States, where he held a variety of technical and administrative positions including chairman, president and CEO. After 13 years of service, he left to join American Electric Power (AEP) Company, where he served 12 years also as their president, chairman and CEO.
Dr. Draper has been a member of the Board of Directors of eleven New York Stock Exchange listed companies including current service at Alliance Data Systems and NorthWestern Energy, where he is non-executive Chairman of the Board.
Draper is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas, where he served as the president. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Texas.
Draper is the author of a number of technical publications and the editor of two books.
During his professional career, he served in executive positions for the following: Edison Electric Institute (EEI), Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), Nuclear Utility Management and Resources Council (NUMARC), the Association of Electric Companies of Texas (AECT), the National Coal Council (NCC), the Ohio Business Round table (OBRT), and the Simon Kenton Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
He is a member of the Cornell University Council, the University of Texas Engineering Advisory Board, and the University of Texas Energy Institute. He served two terms as a member of the Board of Governors for the Argonne National Laboratory. He was a member of the Board of Governors for the Nature Conservancy and Resources for the Future.
He holds two Bachelor’s degrees from Rice University (1964) and a Doctorate from Cornell University (1970).
Dr. Draper is an Eagle Scout and a Distinguished Eagle Scout, an award presented to Eagle Scouts who after 25 years have distinguished themselves in their life work and have shared their talents with their communities on a voluntary basis.
Read Nuclear News from July 2007 for more on Don.
Last modified October 19, 2018, 2:13pm CDT
