Possible explosive compounds in the Savannah River Site Tank Farm facilities. Revision 1

Since 1970, many studies have been conducted concerning the potential for explosive compounds in tank farm operations including ammonium nitrate, metal oxalates, and silver and mercury compounds. The study currently in progress is the most comprehensive to date, encompassing all previous studies and extending the scope to include all compounds that could be formed from the known species in SRS wastes. In addition to waste storage, the study also considers waste removal and waste processing operations. The total number of possible explosive compounds is so large that it would not be useful to list them all here. Instead, only those compounds are listed that are known to be present or could conceivably be formed from material that is known to be present in the waste. The general approach to the problem is: identify all of the constituents that are known to be present in the waste together with those that might be present from possible chemical and radiolytic reactions, determine the compounds that could be formed from these constituents, compare these compounds with those listed in the literature, and assess the formation and stability of these compounds against the conditions existing in the tank farm facilities