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Latest News
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.
I. Maya, K. R. Schultz, J. M. Battaglia, L. C. Brown, E. T. Cheng, R. L. Creedon, D. R. Engler, W. G. Homeyer, M. T. Simnad, P. W. Trester, C. P. C. Wong, R. W. Goodrich, B. K. Jensen, R. Krauss
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 178-183
Hybrids and Nonelectric Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22864
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A conceptual fusion synfuel production system has been developed with the unique features of: (1) a fusion blanket producing high-temperature (1250°C) process heat, and (2) the GA sulfur-iodine thermochemical cycle. The system incorporates a two-zone blanket which achieves a tritium breeding ratio of 1.1 while delivering a high fraction (30%) of the fusion heat at high temperatures (1250°C). The multiple barriers to tritium permeation in the blanket design permit the hydrogen product to meet 10CFR20 regulatory requirements without stringent requirements on the tritium recovery systems. A ceramic heat exchanger, incorporating SiC tubes and headers to contain the process stream and a cooled, Inconel 718 pressure shell to contain the helium, was designed for transferring the heat from the high-temperature coolant to the process. A good heat-line match of the blanket heat-source temperature distribution to the requirements of the thermochemical plant was attained under the dual goal of maximizing process efficiency and minimizing the hydrogen cost. The results are a process efficiency of 45%, an overall plant efficiency of 43%, and an estimated cost of hydrogen of $12 to $14 per Gigajoule of hydrogen ($11 to $13 per million Btu).