Demonstration of plasma in-situ vitrification at the K-Reactor seepage basin (904-65G)

The Savannah River Technology Center at SRS had begun investigating the possibility of utilizing a plasma torch for ``bottoms up`` in-situ vitrification and had funded pilot plant scale testing at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) and at Clemson University. By the spring of 1996, the GIT trials had indicated that the process was potentially viable for vitrification of SRS soils but that the process needed to be validated on a clean site at a near production scale, before deployment into a radioactive environment could be contemplated. Environmental Restoration Division organized this demonstration at a clean location adjacent to the 904-65G, K-Reactor Seepage basin with the objectives of: developing realistic cost/effectiveness data for evaluation of the process against other competing remediation technologies such as soil grouting; developing the engineering data necessary for possible subsequent full scale deployment at an SRS radiologically contaminated waste unit; and evaluating commercially available non-intrusive subsurface monitoring techniques as potential methods for regulatory compliance verification. This Interim Technical Report provides a preliminary description of the demonstration with conclusions and recommendations based on observations made during the period of the demonstration. A detailed engineering report will be compiled in the near future providing all the data pertaining to the demonstration, together with the cost comparisons, product quality determinations and engineering recommendations for future actions