Open AccessStabilization of In-Tank Residual Wastes and External-Tank Soil Contamination for the Hanford Tank Closure Program: Applications to the AX Tank Farm
Author(s) -
Herbert Anderson,
Brian P. Dwyer,
Ching-Jen Ho,
J. A. Krumhansl,
G. McKeen,
Molecke,
Henry R. Westrich,
P. Zhang
Publication year - 1998
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/2756
Subject(s) - hanford site , grout , waste management , underground storage tank , environmental science , storage tank , radioactive waste , groundwater , residual , contamination , radionuclide , infiltration (hvac) , environmental engineering , engineering , geotechnical engineering , materials science , ecology , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science , composite material , biology
Technical support for the Hanford Tank Closure Program focused on evaluation of concepts for immobilization of residual contaminants in the Hanford AX tanks and underlying soils, and identification of cost-effective approaches to improve long-term performance of AX tank farm cIosure systems. Project objectives are to develop materials or engineered systems that would significantly reduce the radionuclide transport to the groundwater from AX tanks containing residual waste. We pursued several studies that, if implemented, would help achieve these goals. They include: (1) tank fill design to reduce water inilltration and potential interaction with residual waste; (2) development of in-tank getter materials that would specifically sorb or sequester radionuclides; (3) evaluation of grout emplacement under and around the tanks to prevent waste leakage during waste retrieval or to minimize water infiltration beneath the tanks; (4) development of getters that will chemically fix specific radionuclides in soils under tanks; and (5) geochemical and hydrologic modeling of waste-water-soil-grout interactions. These studies differ in scope from the reducing grout tank fill employed at the Savannah River Site in that our strategy improves upon tank fill design by providing redundancy in the barriers to radionuclide migration and by modification the hydrogeochemistry external to the tanks