Progress Report on Waste Processing Development Project (open access)

Progress Report on Waste Processing Development Project

The work of the BNL Waste Processing Development Project has been concerned with developing means to accomplish three main objectives in handling radiochemical wastes. One is to reduce the corrosiveness of the waste. At present some wastes must be stored in SS vessels at high cost, since other tankage would not resist corrosion for any length of time. Hanford has solved a part of this problem by storing a neutralized or alkaline waste which can be contained more cheaply in 1020 steel vessels, although neutralization increases its total volume 50 percent over the original acid solution volume. Another aim in waste disposal is to reduce the mobility of the water. Although equipment is checked and double checked, and corrosion resistance is assured by extra thick-walled vessels, the possibility exists that a leak in such storage tanks may develop. At such times the solution may be carried by ground water into populated areas, whereas a relatively immobile waste would remain a local problem. A third and very important consideration is a desirable reduction in total waste volume. Since costs of waste storage are propositional to the volume stored, any reduction in total volume will reduce the total cost.
Date: January 1956
Creator: Zwickler, S.; Manowits, B.; Allen, V.; Helfant, M.; Isler, R. J.; Oriez, R. et al.
System: The UNT Digital Library