Hanford low-level waste process chemistry testing data package

Recently, the Tri-Party Agreement (TPA) among the State of Washington Department of Ecology, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the cleanup of the Hanford Site was renegotiated. The revised agreement specifies vitrification as the encapsulation technology for low level waste (LLW). A demonstration, testing, and evaluation program underway at Westinghouse Hanford Company to identify the best overall melter-system technology available for vitrification of Hanford Site LLW to meet the TPA milestones. Phase I is a {open_quotes}proof of principle{close_quotes} test to demonstrate that a melter system can process a simulated highly alkaline, high nitrate/nitrite content aqueous LLW feed into a glass product of consistent quality. Seven melter vendors were selected for the Phase I evaluation: joule-heated melters from GTS Duratek, Incorporated (GDI); Envitco, Incorporated (EVI); Penberthy Electomelt, Incorporated (PEI); and Vectra Technologies, Incorporated (VTI); a gas-fired cyclone burner from Babcock & Wilcox (BCW); a plasma torch-fired, cupola furnace from Westinghouse Science and Technology Center (WSTC); and an electric arc furnace with top-entering vertical carbon electrodes from the U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM)