The audit of the Replacement High Level Waste Evaporator at the Savannah River Site

The Savannah River Site (Site), owned by the Departmen Energy (Department) and managed by Westinghouse Savannah River Company (Westinghouse), recently changed its primary mission from producing nuclear materials to environmental restoration and waste management. A major focus in the Site`s mission is the storage, treatment, stabilization, and disposal of high level radioactive waste materials. To accomplish this mission, the Site will integrate its high level waste treatment facilities into a High Level Waste System (System), which will process the radioactive waste material in six distinct batches. An integral part of the System is the Replacement High Level Waste Evaporator (Replacement Evaporator) which will evaporate water added to the high level waste during processing, thereby minimizing the volume of the waste stream. Currently, the System has the evaporator and tank farm capacity to accommodate the processing of the first batch of radioactive waste, which is scheduled to begin in March 1996. However, the system will need the Replacement Evaporator to accommodate the volume of water and solvent added during processing of the second batch of radioactive waste scheduled to begin processing in 2004