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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.
Sebahattin Ünalan, S. Orhan Akansu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 43 | Number 1 | January 2003 | Pages 110-121
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A252
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Thermal and neutronic behavior of a peaceful nuclear explosion reactor (PACER) producing [approximately equal to]1.2 GWe electrical-power from fusion explosions in a cylindrical explosion chamber (radius = 30 m, height = 75 m) are analyzed. For determination of flibe mass (m) required for safe operation temperatures and pressures with enough tritium breeding ratio (TBR) and high M (fusion energy absorption ratio), neutronic calculations are carried out for different coolant zone positions (DR) and coolant zone thicknesses (DRc). Inlet pressure and temperatures (Tin) of flibe are 1 atm, and 823 and 1540 K.For all DR values, TBR and M reached saturation values of 1.27 and 1.07 at certain DRc values, respectively. Thereby, m increases with increased DR. To decrease flibe mass requirements, DR must be as low as possible. However, this causes high equilibrium pressures and enormous temperatures. Therefore, to decrease mechanical and chemical damages on the walls, DR must be high. The highest equilibrium pressures for the investigated parameters are [approximately equal to]100 and [approximately equal to]160 atm for Tin = 823 K and Tin = 1540 K, respectively. For the equilibrium temperature and pressures of 1750 K and [approximately equal to]20 atm, m and DR should be 3000 tonnes and 400 cm for Tin = 823 K, and 25000 tonnes and 700 cm for Tin = 1540 K.