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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.
Youji Someya, Tetsuo Matsumoto, Ryoji Hiwatari, Yoshiyuki Asaoka, Kunihiko Okano, Takuya Goto, Yuichi Ogawa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 1 | July 2009 | Pages 478-482
IFE Drivers and Chambers | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 1) | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A8949
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A Fast ignition Advanced Laser fusion reactor CONcept with a Dry first-wall and a high repetition laser (FALCON-D) has been proposed to investigate the potential of the fast ignitionin the reactor concepts. For the blanket system, two types of blanket concepts, i.e.asolid and a liquid metal breeder types using the reduced activation ferritic steel (F82H) were proposed.In this study, two types of blankets were designed, where the thickness of the blankets was minimized while keeping the net TBR larger than 1.07. One of the blanket concepts for FALCON-D is based on the solid breeder (Li2TiO3) with beryllium (Be) neutron multiplier and water cooling. The second blanket concept is based on liquid metal breeder (Li17Pb83) with water cooling. The maintenance method for FALCON-D is applicable to both blanket types. The net electric power of the solid breeder blanket is 110 MW larger than that of the liquid metal breeder blanket. This is mainly caused by the differences in the neutron energy multiplication. In the case of the liquid metal breeder blanket with water cooling, the net TBR 1.09 is achieved without Be as the neutron multiplier. Such design without Be can remove a risk of accident due to the chemical reaction between beryllium and water. From the economical point of view, the solid breeder blanket with water cooling, which generates a larger electric power, is desirable. On the other hand, if the combination of beryllium and water cooling was not acceptable from a viewpoint of safety, the blanket system with the liquid metal would be another possible option.