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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.
K. K. Dannenberg, C. A. Back, C. A. Frederick, E. M. Giraldez, R. R. Holt, W. J. Krych, D. G. Schroen, C. O. Russell
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 4 | May 2007 | Pages 673-676
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1462
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper concerns the methods that were used to build an imbedded sphere in foam target for use on Omega to test theories of astrophysical jets. The core of the target is comprised of a titanium slab that is driven through a titanium washer into a low-density foam with an imbedded sphere. The critical dimension that needed to be known was the location of the center of the sphere with respect to the drive region. Initially, attempts were made to fabricate the sphere imbedded foam precisely, however the foam changed dimensionally during the drying phase of fabrication. The dimensional changes observed were often as large as the specified tolerances, so the foams required post fabrication characterization. Optical characterization of the foams weren't accurate enough and radiography was required for precision characterization. Once characterized, the sphere needed to be placed in the specified target geometry correct to an accuracy of ±25 m. The radiography images were imported into a CAD program and these images were used to assemble the target precisely. The methods used provided a well-characterized target with a good build.