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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.
L. C. Carlson, E. L. Alfonso, H. Huang, A. Nikroo, M. E. Schoff, M. N. Emerich, T. Bunn, N. A. Antipa, J. B. Horner
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 67 | Number 4 | May 2015 | Pages 762-770
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-833
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Capsules for inertial confinement fusion require precise measurement of isolated features and domes on the capsule's outer surface. Features that are too large must be removed. A 4pi capsule mapping and characterization system has been developed to map, identify, and measure domes using a Leica confocal microscope. An ultraviolet wavelength laser was integrated to laser-ablate the offending domes that exceed the allowable mix mass. Current process methods to remove domes require three different stations in different locations. The 4pi system achieves automated capsule handling, metrology, and laser polishing/ablation of domes on one device without losing track of the capsule's orientation. The measurement technique and metrology accuracy are compared to patch atomic force microscopy scans and phase-shifting diffraction interferometer measurements with good correlation. The laser polishing method has demonstrated analogous results to the current process methods, but in an automated fashion. Additionally, the 4pi capsule-handling capability of the system has been used to laser-ablate purposeful engineered designs into specialty capsules.