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DNFSB spots possible bottleneck in Hanford’s waste vitrification
Workers change out spent 27,000-pound TSCR filter columns and place them on a nearby storage pad during a planned outage in 2023. (Photo: DOE)
While the Department of Energy recently celebrated the beginning of hot commissioning of the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), which has begun immobilizing the site’s radioactive tank waste in glass through vitrification, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has reported a possible bottleneck in waste processing. According to the DNFSB, unless current systems run efficiently, the issue could result in the interruption of operations at the WTP’s Low-Activity Waste Facility, where waste vitrification takes place.
During operations, the LAW Facility will process an average of 5,300 gallons of tank waste per day, according to Bechtel, the contractor leading design, construction, and commissioning of the WTP. That waste is piped to the facility after being treated by Hanford’s Tanks Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system, which filters undissolved solid material and removes cesium from liquid waste.
According to a November 7 activity report by the DNFSB, the TSCR system may not be able to produce waste feed fast enough to keep up with the LAW Facility’s vitrification rate.
Peter H. Titus, Michael Kalish
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 4 | May 2005 | Pages 906-910
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Fusion Materials | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A803
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
DOE requirements as outlined in DOE-STD-1020-2002 are followed for determination of the necessity for seismic qualification of the stellarator and its related systems. IBC-2000 is followed for the qualification requirements The NCSX criteria document provides guidance on load combinations. The stellarator presents minimal occupational hazards and hazards to the public. The qualification effort is intended to preserve the viability of continuing the experiment after an earthquake, and to explore the sensitivity of the design to dynamic loading from sources other than normal operation. A response spectra modal analysis has been employed. The seismic model builds on available conceptual design and design models of the vessel, and modular coil. Outer TF and PF coil models and models of the cold mass supports have been generated and added to form a complete model of the stellarator system. Much of the stellarator is robust to resist normal Lorentz forces. Areas sensitive to lateral loads and dynamic application of non-Lorentz loading, include the nested cylinder cold mass support columns, cantilevered vessel ducts, and the radial guides connecting the vessel ducts and modular coil shell. Loads on these structures are quantified, and design adequacy is assessed.