Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), located in southeastern New Mexico, has been constructed to be a repository for transuranic (TRU) radioactive wastes generated from the US defense activities. In order to use WIPP as a repository for permanent disposal of TRU waste, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has to demonstrate compliance with the Standards for the Management and Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel, High Level and Transuranic Radioactive Wastes'' promulgated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US Code of Federal Regulations 40 CFR Part 191. The DOE initially plans to perform experiments with a small quantity of waste at WIPP and would like to bring additional quantities for operational demonstration'', before determining whether WIPP is to be a repository for ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant Project has been established to convert the high-level radioactive waste associated with nuclear defense production at the Hanford Site into a waste form suitable for disposal in a deep geologic repository. The Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant will mix processed radioactive waste with borosilicate material, then heat the mixture to its melting point (vitrification) to forin a glass-like substance that traps the radionuclides in the glass matrix upon cooling. The Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant Quality Assurance Program has been established to support the mission of the Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant. This Quality Assurance Program Description has been written to document the Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant Quality Assurance Program.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This executive summary presents the motivation, structure, objectives, methodologies and results of the first stage of the international DECOVALEX project - DECOVALEX I (1992-1995). The acronym stands for Development of Coupled Models and their Validation against Experiment in Nuclear Waste Isolation, and the project is an international effort to develop mathematical models, numerical methods and computer codes for coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in fractured rocks and buffer materials for geological isolation of spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive wastes, and validate them against laboratory and field experiments. 24 refs.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report is a description of the West Valley Demonstration Project`s radioactive waste storage facility, the Chemical Process Cell (CPC). This facility is currently being used to temporarily store vitrified waste in stainless steel canisters. These canisters are stacked two-high in a seismically designed rack system within the cell. Approximately 300 canisters will be produced during the Project`s vitrification campaign which began in June 1996. Following the completion of waste vitrification and solidification, these canisters will be transferred via rail or truck to a federal repository (when available) for permanent storage. All operations in the CPC are conducted remotely using various handling systems and equipment. Areas adjacent to or surrounding the cell provide capabilities for viewing, ventilation, and equipment/component access.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report presents the methodologies and results of the field/laboratory experiments and mathematical modeling defined for the phase III of the project. Results from test cases 2-6 are given in separate chapters of the report (which have been indexed separately), and the last chapter discusses the lessons learned from the three phases of the DECOVALEX project.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Long-term disposal and management of low and intermediate-level radioactive waste is a major project of the nuclear power industry. Therefore, the selection of an underground waste repository has to be a geologically and seismologically stable storage. Easy transportation and emplacement is essential. The Wolsung nuclear power plant (NPP) of unit no. 1/2/ 3/ 4, which is responsible for the future of the energy industry, has already been constructed at the Wolsung site and a New NPP has recently been created at the Sinwolsung site. Radioactive waste used in the plant facilities, has piled up increasingly every year, but it should be taken to be managed at long-term underground storage disposal facilities. The Wolsung site for radioactivity waste repository was known to be relatively stable through various geological surveys, earthquakes, ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Projected scenarios for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository include significant periods of time when high relative humidity atmospheres will be present, thus the reaction processes of interest will include those known to occur under these conditions. The ideal natural analog for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository would consist of natural borosilicate glasses exposed to expected repository conditions for thousands of years; however, the prospects for identifying such an analog are remote, but an important caveat for using natural analog studies is to relate the reaction processes in the analog to those in the system of interest, rather than a strict comparison of the glass compositions. In lieu of this, identifying natural glasses that have reacted via reaction processes expected in the repository is the most attractive option. The goal of this study is to quantify molecular ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The unique time scales associated with nuclear waste management require active work to preserve the knowledge associated with programs that can often span long time frames. For example, repository programs are designed and developed for the safe containment of radionuclides with half-lives on the order of 24,000 years (for Pu-239). Performance assessment studies are required to show, by predictive modeling, that these repositories can safely contain the waste for tens of thousands of years, with one million years a reality in the debate. Development of successful repository programs can span several decades. Once operational, a repository is expected to function until closure for a period of 30 to 40 years. Yet, the decision makers at all levels in such a repository program exert influence and authority over much shorter periods of time ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has developed comparatively detailed quality assurance requirements for the high-level radioactive waste disposal systems. Quality assurance is recognized as a key issue for confidence building and smooth implementation of the HLW program in Japan, and Japan is at an initial phase of repository development. Then the quality assurance requirements at site research and site selection, site characterization, and site suitability analysis used in the Yucca Mountain project were examined in detail and comprehensive descriptions were developed using flow charts. Additionally, the applicability to the Japan high-level radioactive waste disposal project was studied. The examination and study were performed for the following QA requirements: The requirements that have the relative importance at site research and site selection, site characterization, and ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

(1981). United States Chen, SW Wise, RD Wu, CL Bechtel, Downey, CA 90241

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The first working meeting of the SAPIERR project about regional final storage of radioactive waste in the European Union was held in Piestany, Slovak Republic, on February 19 and 20, 2004. SAPIERR stands for Support Action: Pilot Initiative for European Regional Repositories. This is an independent study supported financially by the European Union within the 6th Research Framework Program. The background to the project is the debate about the feasibility of regional repositories for radioactive waste in the European Union, which has come up again especially with a view to the new accession countries and the draft of a waste management directive within the framework of the Nuclear Package. The results of the SAPIERR Project will be presented in Brussels at a concluding international seminar, most probably in October 2005. ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The impact of the rewetting process on the performance of waste containers at the Yucca Mountain repository is analyzed. This paper explores the impact of the temperature-humidity relationships on pitting corrosion failure of stainless steel containers for different areal power densities (APDs)in the repository. It compares the likely performance of containers in a repository with a low APD, 55 Kw/acre, and a high APD, 110 kW/acre.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The purpose of the New Mexico Environmental Evaluation Group (EEG) is to conduct an independent technical evaluation of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Project to ensure the protection of the public health and safety and the environment. The WIPP Project, located in southeastern New Mexico, is being constructed as a repository for the disposal of transuranic (TRU) radioactive wastes generated by the national defense programs. The EEG was established in 1978 with funds provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to the State of New Mexico. Public Law 100-456, the National Defense Authorization Act, Fiscal Year 1989, Section 1433, assigned EEG to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and continued the original contract DE-AC04-79AL10752 through DOE contract DE-AC04-89AL58309. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, Public Law 103-160, ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This paper discusses the quality assurance requirements for high-level canistered waste form products which would be acceptable for disposal in a deep geologic repository. A review plan and guidelines are provided.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This document is a summary of the available information on the thermo-hydro-mechanical properties of the bentonite barrier of a high-level radioactive waste repository and of the processes taking place in it during the successive repository operation phases. Mainly the thermal properties, the volume change processes (swelling and consolidation), the permeability and the water retention capacity are analysed. A review is made of the existing experimental knowledge on the modification of the these properties by the effect of temperature, water salinity, humidity and density of the bentonite, and their foreseen evolution as a consequence of the processes expected in the repository. The compiled evolution refers mostly to the FEBEX (Spain), the MX-80 (USA) and the FoCa (France) bentonite, considered as reference barrier materials in several European disposal concepts. (Author) 102 refs.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

For prolonged storage and eventual disposal radioactive wastes will be solidified to reduce the problems which accompany liquid waste whilst solid wastes will be encapsulated in an immobilising matrix. In the solidification and encapsulation process it will be important to produce a material in a form which is chemically stable, mechanically strong and which will not react with or allow free passage of groundwater. To this end a continuous check will be required to ensure that the various wastes are chemically compatible with the solidifying and binding matrices and that the associated processes are performed against a strict Quality Programme. The Quality Programme will be extensive requiring the specification of procedures for assessing the quality and nature of the wastes, the detailed operation of the solidification and/or encapsulation, the overpack requirements for ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The purpose of this Analysis and Model Report (AMR) supporting the Site Recommendation/License Application (SR/LA) for the Yucca Mountain Project is the development of elementary analyses of the interactions of a hypothetical dike with a repository drift (i.e., tunnel) and with the drift contents at the potential Yucca Mountain repository. This effort is intended to support the analysis of disruptive events for Total System Performance Assessment (TSPA). This AMR supports the Process Model Report (PMR) on disruptive events (CRWMS M&O 2000a). This purpose is documented in the development plan (DP) ''Coordinate Modeling of Dike Propagation Near Drifts Consequences for TSPA-SR/LA'' (CRWMS M&O 2000b). Evaluation of that Development Plan and the work to be conducted to prepare Interim Change Notice (ICN) 1 of this report, which now includes the design option of ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

One of the aims in the safety assessment of SFR-1 is to estimate the release to the environment. In order to make these calculations there is a need to describe the inventory in greater detail. The new computerised database of waste in SFR-1 gives a good possibility to achieve this. The aim for project SAFE is to make both conservative and realistic radionuclide transport calculations. To achieve this goal there must be two inventories. The conservative inventory is the inventory used in the design of the repository, which in most parts is identical with the limits in the licence for SFR-1. There is a great interest to have good estimates of the volumes of the different waste types. A thorough prognosis should be made in 1999, but until then the latest one from 1995 could be used in the calculations. The total (actual) inventory of nuclides is calculated from the measurements of the easy-to-measure ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This study investigates spent fuel cask handling experience at existing nuclear facilities to determine appropriate cask decontamination and maintenance operations at the potential Yucca Mountain repository. These operations are categorized as either routine or nonroutine. Routine cask decontamination and maintenance tasks are performed in the cask preparation area at the repository. Casks are taken offline to a separate cask maintenance area for major nonroutine tasks. The study develops conceptual designs of the cask preparation area and cask maintenance area. The functions, layouts, and major features of these areas are also described.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Since 1976 the Austrian Research Centre Seibersdorf has the task to collect, treat and store radioactive waste (Radwaste) arising in Austria. Within the Department of Waste Management a variety of appropriate treatment systems are installed. For storing unconditioned and conditioned waste proper storage-halls are available. The collection of Radwaste is carried out using 100 l drums, for the conditioned waste the 200 l drum concept is used. The interim storage of conditioned waste is done at Seibersdorf until a final repository is built. The present plan foresees one to be in operation at the year 2012. (author).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The Department of Energy is investigating Yucca Mountain, Nevada as a potential site for commercial radioactive waste disposal in a mined geologic repository. One critical aspect of site suitability is the tectonic stability of the repository site. The levels of risk from both actual fault displacements in the repository block and ground shaking from nearby earthquakes are being examined. In particular, it is necessary to determine the expected level of ground shaking at the repository depth for large seismic sources such as nearby large earthquakes or underground nuclear explosions (UNEs). Earthquakes are expected to cause the largest ground motions at the site, however, only underground nuclear explosion data have been obtained at the repository depth level (about 350m below the ground level) to date. In this study we investigate ground motion from Nevada Test ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Activities are reported in programs to locate, test, and select materials for borehole plugs near nuclear waste repositories. Background information concerning borehole plugging is presented and work to date is summarized. Borehole sealants considered are listed and recommended steps to plug boreholes are given. Planned research is summarized.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

During the years 1995-1999, an international effort was going on under the title DECOVALEX II, in order to study the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) effects in the water containing fractured rock mass caused by the heat generation of spent fuel canisters in a repository. The project was a continuation project of DECOVALEX (1991-1996). The name comes from the acronym 'an international co-operative project for the DEvelopment of COupled models and their VALidation against EXperiments in nuclear waste isolation'. Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) was one of the eleven Funding Organizations in the international project. STUK's Research Team was the Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT Communities and Infrastructure. To support and coordinate the national research work, STUK formed a National DECOVALEX II Group (NDG). ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We propose a system for the on-line monitoring of short and medium term radioactive waste repositories. Such a system is distributed, fine-grained, robust, reliable, and must be based on low-cost components. It could, in principle, open new perspectives on the modality of waste packaging and storage. In particular we propose to employ a new family of cheap and powerful micro sensors to be placed in shape of a fine grid around each single drum. (authors)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Department of Energy currently has over 100 million liters of high-level radioactive waste in storage at the Savannah River Site (SRS). In the late 1970`s, the Department of Energy recognized that there were significant safety and cost advantages associated with immobilizing the high-level waste in a stable solid form. Several alternative waste forms were evaluated in terms of product quality and reliability of fabrication. This evaluation led to a decision to build the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) at SRS to convert the easily dispersed liquid waste to borosilicate glass. In accordance with the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process, an Environmental Impact Statement was prepared for the facility, as well as an Environmental Assessment of the alternative waste forms, and issuance of a Record of Decision (in December, 1982) on the ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Full text: The transmutation of nuclear waste to reduce the burden on a geological repository is a relevant topic within the Program of Nuclear Safety Research of the Research Centre Karlsruhe. Several studies have confirmed that a high efficiency of transmutation of actinides is reached in fast neutron spectrum reactor system. Therefore, an important effort is dedicated to the study of transmutation strategies with different fast reactors and their associated technologies. Moreover, in international contexts as Generation IV International Forum (GIF) and Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform (SNETP), fast reactors are considered in the frame of sustainable development of nuclear energy and reduction of waste. The systems that are currently under investigation, in the frame of the different fuel cycle scenarios, are liquid metal cooled and gas cooled fast reactors as well as Accelerator Driven Sub-critical ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The results of the laboratory studies performed by CIEMAT with the FEBEX bentonite in the context of WP3.2 of the NF-PRO Project and of the Agreement ENRESA-CIEMAT Anexo V are presented and analysed in this report. They refer to the effect of the hydraulic gradient on the permeability of bentonite, the effect of the thermal gradient on the hydration kinetics of bentonite, and the repercussion of temperature on the hydro-mechanical properties of bentonite (swelling, permeability and water retention capacity). In all the cases the bentonite has been used compacted to densities expected in the engineered barrier of a high-level radioactive waste repository. The existence of threshold and critical hydraulic gradients has been observed, both of them dependent on bentonite density and water pressures. After more than seven years of hydration, the 40-cm high bentonite columns are far from full saturation, the thermal gradient ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The broad objective of the engineered barriers studies was to demonstrate and qualify the use of different materials and techniques for sealing water flow paths in the Stripa granite, the mine excavations and the excavation disturbed zones. As may be anticipated from the application of the observational method that forms the basis for design of geotechnical structures, the programme evolved with the finding being made at Stripa and other underground laboratories. During phase 1, the engineered barriers investigations focussed on the heat affected zone of the repository. Specifically, the response of clay buffers and the interactions between waste containers, clay buffer materials and the rock were studied. The phase 2 investigations examined the feasibility of sealing boreholes shafts and tunnels with clay sealants. The phase 3, studies of the ability to grout and seal fractured granite including the excavation disturbed zone were effected and ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste-Management in the Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for disposing of this nation`s spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste in a manner that protects the health and safety of the public and the quality of the environment. Although embodied in the Federal repository program that began with studies in the late 1950s, this mission was explicitly established by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and reaffirmed by the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987. To fulfill our mission, we are developing a waste management system consisting of a geologic repository for permanent disposal deep beneath the surface of the earth, a facility for monitored retrievable storage, and a system for transporting the waste. This discussion draft was developed to help involve parties ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Analyses of the roles of cement-based barriers in radioactive waste isolation show that models used to estimate their characteristics during the lifetime of the repository must consider the alteration of material properties with time due to degradation processes. Reinforced concrete barriers at repositories shall be designed in such manner that they fulfil besides isolative capabilities also the required functions of mechanical resistance and stability. Key elements of safety evaluation are mainly the correct selection of materials for mineral composites with cement binder (cements, aggregates, mineral additives and chemical admixtures) and their design, execution of construction works and production of precast concrete containers (continuous casting of concrete - no cold joints, limited number of construction joints, proper placing and consolidation, finishing and curing), strict control of used materials and inspection of ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Full text: The site selection process for a near surface repository dedicated for the radioactive waste resulted from the Cernavoda NPP operation and decommissioning started early in 90's. Each site selection stage included the collection of data from specific field and laboratory works as well as the appropriate safety performance evaluation. In order to assess/confirm the performance of the natural barrier of the Saligny site, the radionuclide concentration in the disposal system compartments has been evaluated, as complementary safety indicator of repository. The siting process was made in accordance with national and international regulations and standards and using a conceptual design similar to those used at L'Aube (France), ElCabril (Spain) or Mohovce (Slovak Republic). ANDRAD, the Romanian waste management organization that has continued the siting process in the last three years applied and ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe the processes and procedures utilized by Jacksonville State University's Houston Cole Library to digitize an oral history collection and provide access to it through the Library's catalog, web presence, and the state-wide digital repository initiative, Alabama Mosaic (see www.alabamamosaic.org). Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on the Library's experiences in acquiring, digitizing, creating metadata for and making accessible a collection of oral histories. Findings - The paper describes the obstacles overcome, issues encountered, procedures established, and ramifications of the project. Practical implications - Many institutions are currently digitizing unique collections as part of repository initiatives, both institutiona...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report consists of a broad overview of activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The following topics are discussed: The growth of the waste management group; what we do today; the mission of the waste management group; the liquid waste treatment section; the radioactive liquid waste project office; the chemical waste section; the radioactive waste section; and the technical support section.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Tests using reconstituted samples have been performed to assess the diffusive transport of 137Cs and 60Co through natural regolith materials from a region in South Australia being considered for a radioactive waste repository. A double diffusion cell apparatus made of polycarbonate resin was developed to estimate the effective diffusion (De) and sorption coefficients (Kd) that allowed large withdrawals from the source and collector cells and has enabled tests with low concentrations of radioactivity. An alternative to porous stainless steel filter plates has also been used to reduce uncertainty in test interpretation. Analysis of the transient data used a staged method of the Laplace transform to take into consideration the volume of the samples withdrawn from the apparatus during testing....

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report describes the conclusion of a two-part programme, begun in 1994 with the overall aim of assisting in the development of an acceptable public participation strategy for use in Sweden for the siting of contentious facilities, with particular reference to the ongoing siting programme for a deep repository for spent nuclear fuel. The first part of the work programme, a global review of siting practice, was reported as SSI Rapport 94-15, in November 1994. This recommended further detailed studies of at least two individual programmes, which have now been carried out in Canada and the United States, and are reported on here. They involved face to face meetings with many of the main stake holders in the two programmes and enabled valuable insight to be gained into the potential problems associated with increased public participation, as well as identifying good practice where it exists. The lessons learned have then been applied to the evolving ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A plant for the fixation of high-level wastes in borosilicate glass has been operating in France since 1978. A large plant is under construction in the U.S. for the fixation of defence high-level waste and plans for other glass fixation plants are well advanced at several sites around the world. Among the reasons for the selection of borosilicate glass as a fixation medium are the relative ease of processing wastes of variable composition by means of well established technology, and the long-term radiation and thermal stability of the glass. Well formulated glass also has sufficient resistance to the action of groundwater so that it can serve as an important barrier against the spread of radionuclides via groundwater in any forseeable situation. Research is continuing to quantify the reactions of waste glass in site-specific geological repository environments.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The follow-up system for wastes (JAeSTI), developed at the end of the 1990s, forms a basis for today's followup activities in Finland. JAeSTI relies on an environmental protection database, the compliance monitoring system VAHTI operated by the environmental authorities. Waste followup and waste statistics depend very much on the annual waste quantities recorded in the VAHTI system. In the KYJ-project the coverage and reliability of the data in the VAHTI system was evaluated as for the streams of solid municipal waste. The project also included the compiling of national statistics on municipal waste for the year 2000. The project used other information sources, too, such as statistics compiled when the National Waste Plan and regional waste plans ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The performance of a geologic repository for high-level nuclear waste will be influenced to a large degree by thermohydrologic phenomena created by the emplacement of heat-generating radioactive waste. The importance of these phenomena is manifest in that they can greatly affect the movement of moisture and the resulting transport of radionuclides from the repository. Thus, these phenomena must be well understood prior to a definitive assessment of a potential repository site. An investigation has been undertaken along three separate avenues of analysis: (i) laboratory experiments, (ii) mathematical models, and (iii) similitude analysis. A summary of accomplishments to date is as follows. (1) A review of the literature on the theory of heat and mass transfer in partially saturated porous medium. (2) A development of the governing conservation and constitutive equations. (3) A ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Modern particle accelerators offer new opportunities to dramatically reshape the way we think about nuclear energy, and challenge some of the thorniest problems linked to its industrial use, e.g. nuclear waste. A powerful proton accelerator driving a sub-critical fission reactor could be used for producing energy more safely and burning up the extra spent fuel which so far has been stored in geological repositories.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) administers and operates the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site, which hosts a deep geologic repository for safe disposal of U.S. defense-related TRU waste and is located 42 kilometers (km) east of Carlsbad, New Mexico. CBFO also manages the National Transuranic Waste Program (NTP), which oversees TRU waste management from generation to disposal. The WIPP began receiving waste in March 1999. In some areas of broad international interest, the CBFO has developed a leading expertise through its 25-year WIPP repository and TRU waste characterization activities. In addition to participating in relevant and beneficial experiments, the CBFO will provide the international community convenient access to this information by sponsoring and hosting symposia and ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Until recent years, those involved in the design, operation and regulation of nuclear power systems devoted more resources to forward movement than to the back end of the fuel cycle. Now, though, concerted thought and international cooperation have been devoted to the question of nuclear waste management. The expert consensus is that sufficient knowledge exists to make e.g. disposal decisions with an acceptable level of confidence. In the first phases of research, decision processes were adapted to the tasks at hand. However, at some point in each nuclearized country, there came a time when waste management implied finding repository sites. At that time management abruptly entered the social sphere - where unfortunate experience has shown time and time again that classical decision processes are not adapted to facilitating societal acceptance of management solutions. This paper recounts the various management frameworks ...

Science.gov (United States)

The Eagle Flat basin, an intermontane basin in Trans-Pecos Texas, is being considered as a possible site for the Texas repository of low-level radioactive wastes. Intermontane basins and associated normal faults formed in response to Basin and Range tectonism that began about 24 Ma ago. The most active late Tertiary and Quaternary faults occur within the Hueco Bolson (HB) and the Salt Basin/Salt Flat/Lobo Valley, west and east, respectively, of the proposed repository. Several faults of the southeast HB which are within 50 km of the site, displace middle Pleistocene deposits 10 to 24 m. The most recent surface rupture in the southeast HB probably occurred on the Amargosa fault during the Holocene. Upper Pleistocene deposits are offset 2.5 to 4.5 m, and middle Pleistocene deposits are displaced 24 m. Fault scarps within 50 km east of the proposed repository are associated with faults bounding the Salt ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report is a review of waste form options for the immobilization of high-level-liquid wastes from the nuclear fuel cycle. This review covers the status of international research and development on waste forms as of May 1979. Although the emphasis in this report is on waste form properties, process parameters are discussed where they may affect final waste form properties. A summary table is provided listing properties of various nuclear waste form options. It is concluded that proposed waste forms have properties falling within a relatively narrow range. In regard to crystalline versus glass waste forms, the conclusion is that either glass of crystalline materials can be shown to have some advantage when a single property is considered; however, at this date no single waste form offers optimum ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

In the safety assessment of a high-level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal system, it is required to estimate radiological impacts on future human beings arising from potential radionuclide releases from a deep repository into the surface environment. In order to estimated the impacts, a biosphere model is developed by reasonably assuming radionuclide migration processes in the surface environment and relevant human lifestyles. It is important to modify the present biosphere models or to develop alternative biosphere models applying the biosphere models according to quality and quantify of the information acquired through the siting process for constructing the repository. In this study, alternative biosphere models were developed taking geosphere-biosphere interface of marine environment into account. Moreover, the flux to dose conversion factors calculated by these alternative biosphere models was compared with those by ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The applicability of the electro-slag melting method for treating plutonium contaminated metallic waste was studied. A 100kg test furnace was built and simulated metallic waste was melted and solidified in this furnace. Waste volume was reduced to 1/25 with a decontamination factor of 25 and the slag and the copper mold are repeatedly usable. The process is expected to be employed in the project of PWTF (Plutonium contaminated Waste Treatment Facilities).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The objective of this study was to determine if any fluids or materials used in the Exploratory Shaft Facility (ESF) of Yucca Mountain will make the mountain unsuitable for future construction of a nuclear waste repository. Yucca Mountain, an area on and adjacent to the Nevada Test Site in southern Nevada, USA, is a candidate site for permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste from commercial nuclear power and defense nuclear activities. To properly characterize Yucca Mountain, it will be necessary to construct an underground test facility, in which in situ site characterization tests can be conducted. The candidate repository horizon at Yucca Mountain, however, could potentially be compromised by fluids and materials used in the site characterization tests. To minimize this possibility, Los Alamos National Laboratory was directed to evaluate the kinds of fluids and materials that will be used ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We simulate mountain-scale coupled heat transfer and gas flow at Yucca Mountain. A coupled rock-gas flow and heat transfer model, TGIF2, is used to simulate mountain-scale two-dimensional transient heat transfer and gas flow. The model is first verified against an analytical solution for the problem of an infinite horizontal layer of fluid heated from below. Our numerical results match very well with the analytical solution. Then, we obtain transient temperature and gas flow distributions inside the mountain. These distributions are used by a transient semianalytical particle tracker to obtain carbon-14 travel times for particles starting at different locations within the repository. Assuming that the repository is filled with 30-year-old waste at an initial areal power density of 57 kw/acre, we find that repository temperatures remain above 60 degrees C for more than 10,000 years. Carbon-14 travel ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This document presents a detailed schedule for the implementation of the strategy for managing defense remote-handled (RH) transuranic (TRU) waste. The baseline management strategy was defined in the Defense Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Cost/Schedule Optimization Study and is summarized in this document. Also included are revised RH TRU waste inventory projections, current site management plans, a list of key decision points and milestones, and a discussion of uncertainties associated with management of RH TRU waste. The plans are summarized in a detailed schedule diagram and in an RH TRU waste work off diagram. 9 refs., 5 figs., 4 tabs.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Department of Energy`s program for disposing of nuclear High-Level Waste (HLW) and transuranic (TRU) waste has been impeded by overwhelming political opposition fueled by public perceptions of actual risk. Analysis of these perceptions shows them to be deeply rooted in images of fear and dread that have been present since the discovery of radioactivity. The development and use of nuclear weapons linked these images to reality and the mishandling of radioactive waste from the nations military weapons facilities has contributed toward creating a state of distrust that cannot be erased quickly or easily. In addition, the analysis indicates that even the highly educated technical community is not well informed on the latest technology involved with nuclear HLW and TRU waste disposal. It is not surprising then, that the general public feels uncomfortable with DOE`s management plans for with nuclear HLW ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is committed to providing high quality products that satisfy customer needs and are the associated with this goal, DOE personnel must possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities to ensure successful job performance. In addition, there must be recognition that the greatest obstacle to proper project performance is inadequate project definition. Without strong project definition, DOE environmental management efforts are vulnerable to fragmented solutions, duplication of effort, and wastes resources. The primary means of ensuring environmental management projects meet cost and schedule milestones is through a structured and graded approach to project definition, which is the focus of this handbook.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Full text of publication follows: Large-scale problems such as nuclear waste disposal are increasingly recognized to be interconnected to small scale-mechanisms. Thus, synchrotron-based high-resolution analytical X-ray probes become important tools for exploring the micro-scale chemical reactivity of heterogeneous barrier materials used in nuclear waste repositories. In this study the layout of the micro-XAS beamline at the Swiss Light Source (SLS) will be presented. The beamline is optimized towards micro beam experiments ({approx}1 x 1 {mu}m{sup 2}) in the hard-X-ray regime (4 - {approx}22 keV) and allows to combine micro X-ray fluorescence (micro-XRF), micro X-ray absorption spectroscopy (micro- XAS), and micro X-ray diffraction (micro-XRD) investigations with radioactive samples. Furthermore, the potential of micro-XRF/XAS/XRD for acquiring spatially resolved molecular level information on the speciation and structural ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The objective of the ''Waste Handling Building Conceptual Study'' is to develop proposed design requirements for the repository Waste Handling System in sufficient detail to allow the surface facility design to proceed to the License Application effort if the proposed requirements are approved by DOE. Proposed requirements were developed to further refine waste handling facility performance characteristics and design constraints with an emphasis on supporting modular construction, minimizing fuel inventory, and optimizing facility maintainability and dry handling operations. To meet this objective, this study attempts to provide an alternative design to the Site Recommendation design that is flexible, simple, reliable, and can be constructed in phases. The design concept will be input to the ''Modular Design/Construction and Operation Options ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This document presents a summary of the work performed in support of the Buried Waste Robotics Program Subsurface Mapping Project. The project objective was to demonstrate the feasibility of remotely characterizing buried waste sites. To fulfill this objective, a remotely-operated vehicle, equipped with several sensors, was deployed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Descriptions of the equipment and areas involved in the project are included in this report. Additionally, this document provides data that was obtained during characterization operations at the Cold Test Pit and the Subsurface Disposal Area, both at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory's Radioactive Waste Management Complex, and at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant. The knowledge gained from the experience, that can be applied to the next generation remote-characterization system, ...

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This second volume contains detailed information on a number of specific topics relevant to the recovery/recycling of plastics.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The environments on the drip shield and waste package outer barrier are controlled by the compositions of the waters that contact these components. the temperature (T) of these components, and the effective relative humidity (RH) at these components. Because the composition of the waters that are expected to enter the emplacement drifts (either by seepage flow or by episodic flow) have not been specified: well J13 water was chosen as the reference water (Harrar 1990). Section 6.2 discusses the accessible RH for the temperatures of interest at the repository horizon. Section 6.3 discusses the adsorption of water on metal alloys in the absence of hygroscopic salts. Because the temperatures of the DSs and the WPOBs are higher than those of the surrounding near-field environment, the relative humidity at the DSs and the WPOBs will be lower than that of the surrounding near-field environment. This difference is a result of the water partial pressure ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The ANDRA, the French national agency of radioactive wastes, is organizing today the information needs of tomorrow. The aim is to allow the future generations to have access to the knowledge of the existence of subsurface radioactive waste facilities and to understand the context and technologies of such facilities. The storage of this information is made on 'permanent paper', a high resistant paper with a lifetime of 600 to 1000 years. An updating of these data is made every 5 years for each waste disposal center. Another project, still in progress, concerns the memory management of deep geologic waste disposal facilities for which the time scale to be considered is of the order of millennia. (J.S.)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The US National Energy Policy of 2001 advocated the development of advanced fuel and fuel cycle technologies that are cleaner, more efficient, less waste-intensive, and more proliferation resistant. The need for advanced fuel development is emphasized in on-going DOE-supported programs, e.g., Global Nuclear Energy Initiative (GNEI), Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI), and GEN-IV Technology Development. The Directorates of Energy & Environment (E&E) and Chemistry & Material Sciences (C&MS) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are interested in advanced fuel research and manufacturing using its multi-disciplinary capability and facilities to support a design concept of a small, secure, transportable, and autonomous reactor (SSTAR). The E&E and C&MS Directorates co-sponsored this Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) Project on Mono-Uranium Nitride Fuel Development for SSTAR ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A couple of domestic institutions have been investigating the application of vitrification technology to treat low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes in Korea. In the case that such investigations prove to be successful, it is expected that commercial vitrification plants will be constructed. The safety insuring on vitrification plants could not be compatible with criterion on radioactive waste management because the facilities are at high temperature and contain a variety of accommodations for the exhaust gases and residual products. Therefore, it is necessary to suggest a new strategy or modifications of criterion of radioactive waste management on considerations related with the vitrification technology. In order to ensure the safety of vitrification plants, a technical guideline or standard for design and operation of vitrification plants must be established too. A study on the safety assessment of vitrification ...

Science.gov (United States)

Most waste management activities are decided upon and carried out in a public or semi-public arena, typically involving the waste management organization, one or more regulators, and often other stakeholders and members of the public. In these environments, simulation modeling can be a powerful tool in reaching a consensus on the best path forward, but only if the models that are developed are understood and accepted by all of the parties involved. These requirements for understanding and acceptance of the models constrain the appropriate software and model development procedures that are employed. This paper discusses requirements for both simulation software and for the models that are developed using the software. Requirements for the software include transparency, accessibility, flexibility, extensibility, quality assurance, ability to do discrete and/or continuous simulation, and efficiency. Requirements for the models that are developed ...

Wastenet

... News In Practice UK work Key facts & information Mass Balance Projects Resources & Library Technical Area Contacts Site Map Benchmarking solvent waste in the UK furniture manufacturing industry OrganisationBritish Furniture Manufacturers Ltd Project ReportSolvent Waste in Furniture Manufacturing Website: www.bfmenvironment.co.uk Return to list � RSWT | Website Design Quiet Storm Solutions Ltd Please consider upgrading your browser! If you can see this ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In this research, first, event and process relevant to the key words (or scenario initiator) such as volcanism have been identified and, especially a middle-scale eruption scenario including pyroclastic flows has been analyzed as the catastrophic scenario, which inspires ordinary people to have tremendous concern. Secondly, based upon the characteristic events and processes of each scenario considered in the above and through the research of existing model of such risk, quantitative concept (release amount magnitude, release mode, release form, frequency of release, probability etc.) and impact on repository system, facility and environment have been analyzed, defended and defined. Model which can assess and analyze such impact has been built. Using these models, risks directly or indirectly caused by HLW repository have been calculated. Finally, the process for assessing the consequence of volcanism scenario and its risk calculated by the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Research at the Savannah River Technology Center aided development of a technical design basis for a Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) to pre-treat and vitrify Hanford tank waste as part of the River Protection Project (RPP). The research addresses safety concerns, process optimization, and waste form compliance. This program will provide technical data to ensure that the process functions as it was designed and minimizes costs.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Within the framework of efforts to optimize state-of-the-art waste disposal methods, this research project makes a theoretical analysis of the propagation behaviour of pollutants from landfills and waste incineration plants into the immediate vicinity of such plants. In order to judge the propagation of pollutants near the above-mentioned waste disposal facilities, a calculation program was developed within the framework of this research project which permits simulation of the propagation of such emissions in a three-dimensional space by application of an Eulerian grid model. It is capable of realistically representing fluid flow conditions and pollutant concentrations for certain points of times within the complex building patterns of such plants, for randomly chosen atmospheric conditions. (orig.)

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The NGDRS has facilitated 85% of cores, cuttings, and other data identified available for transfer to the public sector. Over 12 million linear feet of cores and cuttings, in addition to large numbers of paleontological samples and are now available for public use. To date, with industry contributions for program operations and data transfers, the NGDRS project has realized a 6.5 to 1 return on investment to Department of Energy funds. Large-scale transfers of seismic data have been evaluated, but based on the recommendation of the NGDRS steering committee, cores have been given priority because of the vast scale of the seismic data problem relative to the available funding. The rapidly changing industry conditions have required that the primary core and cuttings preservation strategy evolve as well. Additionally, the NGDRS clearinghouse is evaluating the viability of transferring seismic data covering the western shelf of the Florida Gulf Coast. AGI remains ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The use of standard cementitious material creates pulses of pH in the magnitude of 12-13 in the leachates and release alkalis. Such a high pH is detrimental and also unnecessarily complicates the safety analysis of the repository. As no reliable pH-plume models exist, the use of products giving a pH below 11 in the leachates facilitates the safety analysis. Also, according to current understanding, the use of low-pH cement (pH = 11) will not disturb the functioning of the bentonite, although limiting the amount of low-pH cement is recommended. A result of the project is that there are both low-pH cementitious material for grouting larger fractures (= 100 {mu}m) and non-cementitious material for grouting smaller fractures (< 100 {mu}m) that will, after further optimisation work, be recommended for grouting of deep repositories. This project concentrated on the technical development of properties ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liquid radioactive raffinates from nuclear fuel reprocessing at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory were solidified, or calcines, in a fluidized bed reactor at approximately 500 C to form a dry granular material. This calcine has been provisionally stored near-surface in concrete-encased stainless steel bins at the Idaho Nuclear Technology Engineering Center. Research addressing the permanent immobilization of radioactive waste has been ongoing. One option is to separate the radioactive constituents from the calcine, thereby reducing the radioactive waste volume to be ultimately stored at a national nuclear waste repository. Nitric acid dissolution of the calcine is a key front-end unit operation in the separations option. In order to design calcine dissolution equipment, quantification of dissolution reaction rate parameters is required. A pilot-plant-produced, non-radioactive ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Information about current and projected waste generation as well as available treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) capabilities and needs is crucial for effective, efficient, and safe waste management. This is especially true for large corporations that are responsible for multisite operations involving diverse and complex industrial processes. Such information is necessary not only for day-to-day operations, but also for strategic planning to ensure safe future performance. This paper reports on some methods developed and successfully applied to obtain requisite information and to assist waste management planning at the corporate level in a nationwide system of laboratories and industries. Waste generation and TSD capabilities at selected US Department of Energy (DOE) sites were studied. 1 ref., 2 tabs.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Several nuclear power plants are operating in Wolsung area, a south-east coastland of Korea. In addition, a medium-level radioactive waste repository is under construction there. If radionuclides are released from these facilities, food crops could be radioactively contaminated, leading to human exposure to internal radiations via food consumption. There are a number of rice fields around the Wolsung nuclear sites. However, almost nothing has yet been reported on the transfer of radionuclides to rice plants from Wolsung soils. In this study, {sup 85}Sr and {sup 137}Cs transfer factors (TFs) were measured for the rice in three paddy soils collected around the Wolsung nuclear sites.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The site characterization of Yucca Mountain, NV as a potential high level nuclear waste repository includes study of the surficial deposits as a record of the paleoenvironmental history of the Yucca Mountain region. An important aspect of this history is an understanding of the evolution of paleogeography leading to establishment of the present drainage pattern. Establishment of drainage basin evolution is needed before geomorphic response to paleoclimate and tectonics can be assessed, because a major change in drainage basin geometry can predominantly affect the sedimentary record. Because alluvial aquifers are significant to regional hydrology, a major change in surface drainage resulting in buried alluvium could have hydrogeologic significance. In this paper, we report on geologic evidence for a major modification in surface drainage pattern in the Yucca Mountain region, resulting in the probable establishment of the Fortymile Wash drainage ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Recently, it has become clear that the chemical circumstances under which long-term geological evolution occurs must be properly evaluated in order to develop effective remediation programs for contaminated soil, landfills, radioactive waste repositories, and carbon dioxide capture and storage. The issue of acidic leakage from excavated rock stuck was assessed using a hydro-geochemical simulator, TOUGHREACT. We concluded that in order to properly investigate the phenomenon of acidic leakage from excavated pyrite-containing rock stuck, it is important to obtain accurate information about the following factors: intensity of rainfall, unsaturated flow properties of the excavated rock stuck, specific surfaces for oxidation reaction of pyrite, the species and the quantity of other minerals contained in the rock, and secondary minerals produced. (author)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

More important than waste generation numbers, the pollution prevention and waste minimization successes achieved at Hanford in 1993 have reduced waste and improved operations at the Site. Just a few of these projects are: A small research nuclear reactor, unused and destined for disposal as low level radioactive waste, was provided to a Texas University for their nuclear research program, avoiding 25 cubic meters of waste and saving $116,000. By changing the slope on a asphalt lot in front of a waste storage pad, run-off rainwater was prevented from becoming mixed low level waste water, preventing 40 cubic meters of waste and saving $750,000. Through more efficient electrostatic paint spraying equipment and a solvent recovery system, a paint shop reduced hazardous waste by 3,500 ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In this paper we describe a modelling project to improve a nuclear waste management program in charge of the creation of a new system for the permanent disposal of nuclear waste. SADT (Structural Analysis and Design Technique) is used in order to provide a work-flow description of the functions to be performed by the waste management program. This description is then translated into a number of Coloured Petri Nets (CPN or CP-nets) corresponding to different program functions where additional behavioural inscriptions provide basis for simulation. Each of these CP-nets is simulated to produce timed event charts that are useful for understanding the behaviour of the program functions under different scenarios. Then all the CPN models are linked together to form a single stand-alone application that is useful for validating the interaction and cooperation between the different program functions. A technique ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) operates the Waste Treatment Centre (WTC) to treat and immobilize some of the low- level radioactive waste (LLRW) streams at the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL). The WTC at treats low- level radioactive liquid waste by removing the contaminants from the wastewater, concentrating them, and immobilizing them. The fundamental design concept for the WTC is to process the waste streams using forced circulation type liquid waste evaporation (LWE), to solidify the concentrates using thin film evaporator and to discharge the purified effluent into the Ottawa River following verification monitoring. The solidified product drums are stored in existing storage facilities in the CRL. The LWE was installed in the WTC to treat the LLRW. After about four (4) years of design, construction and cold commissioning, the active commissioning of the evaporator ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Taiwan has completed a very successful five-year industrial waste minimization (IWM) demonstration and promotion project sponsored by the government. From 1990 to 1995, the project successfully disseminated the IWM concept of pollution prevention (P2) to industries. It effectively reduced industrial waste while significantly benefitting the economy by assisting industries in implementing in-plant IWM programs. In July 1995, the second stage of the five-year IWM and ISO 14000 promotion project was initiated for further promoting the IWM, P2, and cleaner production and, in particular, coping with the upcoming international environmental management standards (ISO 14000). To assist industries in establishing an environmental management system (EMS) and accumulating related experience, an EMS pilot demonstration project of five model industries and an ISO 14001 EMS ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The decommissioning of windscale Pile 2 Chimney resulted in the removal of one of most historically significant and prominent features of the Sellafield site. The project was the first large scale concrete ''free release'' operation to be undertaken on the Sellafield nuclear site, producing 4500 tons of concrete of which 3000 tons was demonstrated to be ''free release''. The paper describes the radiometric techniques employed in the characterisation and segregation of the concrete into low level waste (LLW), very low level waste (VLLW) and free release categories. It examines the robust solutions that were developed to meet the technical and regulatory challenges of the project, which included the definition of free release, the selection of averaging volumes, the testing and validation of the monitoring systems employed for ton quantities of concrete and the identification and removal of small numbers ...

Science.gov (United States)

This paper details the ongoing collaboration between the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the development of complementary micro-computer based cost estimating systems for hazardous waste remediations. he U.S. EPA system, "Remedial Action Cost Estimating System" (...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Many rural industries generate amounts of biomass waste, such as rice husks, sawdust, wood chips, nutshells and plant stalks that represent a substantial energy resource. However, most often these biomass wastes are not utilized and are dumped or burned in the open. This paper will show the whole project cycle of an installation and commissioning of a thermal configuration of a BG-Systems in Indonesia. These projects highlight the economic, operational and environmental benefits of the BG-Systems. BG-Systems are small fixed-bed downdraft gasifier systems being marketed by BG Technologies that convert biomass into a producer gas that is essentially free of tars and can be used reliably in a diesel engine or thermal combustor. (author)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

'Objective of this project is to develop and use Electrochemical Emission Spectroscopy (EES) and other electrochemical techniques as in situ tools for exploring corrosion mechanisms of iron and carbon steel in highly alkaline solutions and for continuously monitoring corrosion on structural materials in DOE liquid waste storage system. In particular, the author will explore the fundamental aspects of the passive behavior of pure iron since breakdown of passivity leads to localized corrosion. This report summarizes work after 1 year of a 3 year project.'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This paper reports about in-situ corrosion studies on selected materials for long-term resistant high-level waste (HLW) packagings acting as a barrier in a rock salt repository. The materials (Ti 99.8-Pd, Hastelloy C4 and five iron-base materials) were investigated in heated boreholes in the Asse salt mine under simulated HLW disposal conditions prevailing in normal operation of repository and in certain accident scenarios. The experiments under normal operating conditions were performed at temperatures of 120 deg. C to 210 deg. C (vertical temperature profile in the boreholes) without and with gamma irradiation (3#centre dot#10"2 Gy/h, Co-60 source) within the framework of the German/US Brine Migration Test. In these experiments only small amounts of migrated brine inclusions (NaCl-rich) from the rock salt were present as corrosion medium. In the experiments carried out under simulated accident conditions with intrusion of ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

In order to qualify corrosion resistant materials for high level waste (HLW) packagings acting as a long-term barrier in a rock salt repository, the corrosion behaviour of the preselected materials Ti 99.8-Pd, Hastelloy C4 and two unalloyed steels was investigated. The resistance of the materials to general corrosion, local corrosion and stress corrosion cracking was examined under postulated accident conditions in the repository by long-term immersion tests of up to 4 years duration and electrochemical methods. The parameters investigated were different salt brines, temperatures of 90 deg. C, 170 deg. C and 200 deg. C as well as a gamma radiation field of 10"3Gy/h (10"5rad/h). Among the materials studied, Ti 99.8-Pd exhibited the highest corrosion resistance. This material corroded at a very low rate (

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The release of {sup 14}C as {sup 14}CO{sub 2} from partly failed spent fuel containers has been analyzed by the flow of gases into and out of the containers. This flow of gases is driven by pressure differences, which are in turn caused by heating by the spent fuel. In this analysis, the timing and size of holes in the containers are assumed to be given. A better means of predicting the time distribution and sizes of penetrations in nuclear waste containers is needed. For the purposes of far-field transport calculations, we have adopted release rates that are shown to be bonding for the large range of hole sizes studied. The transport of released {sup 14}CO{sub 2} has been analyzed by transport in equivalent porous medium. The peak {sup 14}CO{sub 2} concentration in pore gas at 350 m above the repository does not depend on the time of hole occurrence, although the time of penetration obviously affects the arrival and duration of exposure to ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The main goal of this paper is to present a methodology for calculating the radioactivity in the moderator and heat transport systems of Cernavoda NPP Unit 1, with the intention to improve the knowledge on the radionuclides inventories in the operational waste streams, and to aid the licensing process of new near surface repository. In the present paper we describe our methodology for estimating H-3 and C-14 production rates in the heavy-water moderator and heat transport systems using the capacity factors from 1997 to 2007 years. The radioactivity of the difficult-to-measure nuclides is predicted by scaling method using measured concentration in reference CANDU 6 reactor Gentilly-2. The difficult-to-measure radionuclides of primary interest in this study were those with long half-lives which have a significant role for post-closure safety assessment. The equation used to scale fission products (parents and daughters) is based on the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Geological clay formations are investigated for use as final underground deposit for heat producing nuclear waste. Special kinds of clay (e.g. bentonite) can also be used for the construction of geotechnical barriers. For the long time safety prognosis of the nuclear waste repositories the development of geochemical transport models is indispensable. The transport of aqueous solutions in clay is a complex process. The three-layer-minerals bentonite and illite swell by the adsorption of water, if the volume is restricted a high swelling pressure develops. The excellent barrier effect of natural clay formations and geotechnical clay barriers is based on the high swelling pressure and the high adsorption capacity for radionuclides and other pollutants. The two-layer-mineral kaolinite has no swelling capacity. In contrast to sandy layers a special geochemical transport potential exists in clay besides the well known matrix ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A glovebox was designed, fabricated, and mocked-up for the WIPP Gas Generation Experiments (GGE) being conducted at ANL-W. GGE will determine the gas generation rates from materials in contact handled transuranic waste at likely long term repository temperature and pressure conditions. Since the customer`s schedule did not permit time for performing R&D of the support systems, designing the glovebox, and fabricating the glovebox in a serial fashion, a parallel approach was undertaken. As R&D of the sampling system and other support systems was initiated, a specification was written concurrently for contracting a manufacturer to design and build the glovebox and support equipment. The contractor understood that the R&D being performed at ANL-W would add additional functional requirements to the glovebox design. Initially, the contractor had sufficient information to design the glovebox shell. Once the shell design was approved, ANL-W ...

Science.gov (United States)

The chemical reaction between nitric acid and sodium chloride was investigated in onder to provide preliminary information for subsequent studies on the interaction between simulated Purex waste solution and salt. The reaction is characterized by the production of chlorine and nitrosyl chloride and can be considered to be the same as the aqua regia reaction. Within the limits of the conditions imposed by the projected field studies, the acid concentration and temperature are the two parameters which control the extent of the interaction. (auth)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This text presents the annotations of all different articles of the law text concerning the sustainable development of radioactive materials and wastes. (A.L.B.)

Science.gov (United States)

With major D&D projects ongoing or being planned, and also with the daily management of radwaste from nuclear facilities, the potential role of transport packagings has often been overlooked: here will one rely essentially on drums, there several local waste processing units are built, elsewhere decommissioned facilities are cut in small bits to fit into small containers by far less efficient. The present paper proposes to illustrate how integrating a transport system from the start may influence operational choices of waste management.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Waste management, like many other issues, has experienced major milestones. In 1971, the Calvert Cliff's decision resulted in an entirely different approach to the consideration of environmental impact analysis in reactor siting. The accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl have had profound effects on nuclear power plant design. The high-level waste repository program has had many similar experiences that have modified the course of events. The management of radioactive, hazardous chemical and mixed waste in all of the facilities of the Oak Ridge Operations (ORO) Office of the Department of Energy (DOE) took on an entirely different meaning in 1984. On April 13, 1984, Federal Judge Robert Taylor said that DOE should proceed 'with all deliberate speed' to bring the Y-12 plant into compliance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Clean Water Act. This ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This article examines the developing market for independent power projects in Canada. The topics of the article include bidding in Ontario, the Quebec market, powering British Columbia, and market forces at work in Canada. Discussed are current projects in all stages of completion from bidding to production and includes gas-fired cogeneration, gas-fired combined-cycle electricity generation and cogeneration, wood-waste fired plants, repowering of existing utility plants, and hydroelectric power plants.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The behavior of melter feed (a mixture of nuclear waste and glass-forming additives) during waste-glass processing has a significant impact on the rate of the vitrification process. We studied the effects of silica particle size and sucrose addition on the volumetric expansion (foaming) of a high-alumina feed and the rate of dissolution of silica particles in feed samples heated at 5 C/min up to 1200 C. The initial size of quartz particles in feed ranged from 5 to 195 {micro}m. The fraction of the sucrose added ranged from 0 to 0.20 g per g glass. Extensive foaming occurred only in feeds with 5-{micro}m quartz particles; particles {ge}150 {micro}m formed clusters. Particles of 5 {micro}m completely dissolved by 900 C whereas particles {ge}150 {micro}m did not fully dissolve even when the temperature reached 1200 C. Sucrose addition had virtually zero impact on both foaming and the dissolution of silica particles. Over 100 sites in the United ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The Mixed Waste Management Facility, or MWMF, has been proposed as a national testbed facility for the demonstration and evaluation of technologies that are alternatives to incineration for the treatment of mixed low-level waste. The facility design will enable evaluation of technologies at pilot scale, including all aspects of the processes, from receiving and feed preparation to the preparation of final forms for disposal. The MWMF will reduce the risk of deploying such technologies by addressing the following: (1) Engineering development and scale-up. (2) Process integration and activation of the treatment systems. (3) Permitting and stakeholder issues. In light of the severe financial constraints imposed on the DOE and federal programs, DOE/HQ requested a study to assess the cost benefit for the MWMF given other potential alternatives to meet waste treatment needs. The MVVMF Project was asked to ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Technologies and practices that recover energy and materials from municipal solid waste present a technically and economically viable alternative to sanitary landfills and other solid waste disposal methods. However, community planners considering resource recovery should be aware of the potential environmental impacts of proposed projects. To assess these impacts, a planner should: identify the most significant types of impacts; establish boundaries beyond which impacts are not significant; characterize the environment as it would exist without the proposed project over the project's lifetime; predict the magnitude, and the distribution over time and space, of potential impacts; and relate the magnitude of predicted impacts to a scale of significance that will allow environmental values to be considered in decision-making. 24 references, 1 table.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Comprised of seven persons with extensive experience in the issues of nuclear waste, the Independent Review Committee (IRC) provides independent and objective review of Defense Transuranic Waste Program (DTWP) activities managed by the Joint Integration Office (JIO), formerly the Defense Transuranic Waste Lead Organization (TLO). The Committee is ensured a broad, interdisciplinary perspective since its membership includes representatives from the fields of nuclear engineering, nuclear waste transportation, industrial quality control, systems and environmental engineering and state and local government. The scope of IRC activities includes overall review of specific TLO plans, projects and activities, and technical review of particular research and development projects. The Committee makes specific suggestions and recommendations based upon expertise in the field ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This project was conducted to evaluate novel approaches for removing radioactive strontium (Sr) and cesium (Cs) from the tank wastes. The bulk of the Sr removal research conducted as part of this project investigated adsorption of Sr onto a novel adsorbent known as iron-oxide-coated sand. The second major focus of the work was on the removal of cesium. Since the chemistries of strontium and cesium have little commonality, different materials (namely, cesium scavengers known as hexacyanoferrates, HCFs) were employed in these tests. This study bridged several scientific areas and yielded valuable knowledge for implementing new technological processes. The applicability of the results extends beyond the highly specialized application niches investigated experimentally to other issues of potential interest for EMSP programs (e.g., separation of chromium from a variety of wastes using IOCS, separation of Cs ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The Forsmark and the Laxemar investigation areas are examined by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. for a possible construction of a deep repository for nuclear waste. In the case of a future leakage of waste, the radioactive isotopes could end up in the ecosystems above the repository. The fate of the radionuclides and their possible radiological impacts are then highly determined by ecosystem carbon cycling. An important part of the carbon cycling is the soil carbon effluxes, and in the investigation areas soil carbon effluxes have been examined with the closed chamber technique. This paper is divided into two parts. Firstly, there were problems with the equipment measuring the soil carbon dioxide efflux, and the first part is a description of the problem, how it was corrected and its possible causes. The second part is a manual in how to analyse data and calculate ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radioactive waste shipping and receiving facilities presently planned for commercial and defense high-level nuclear waste will handle waste packages at frequencies far in excess of those in common practice today. If current limits for radiation levels at the cask surface and current handling methods are used, high cumulative personnel exposure to ionizing radiation is projected to occur. To reduce these exposure levels, alternate handling methods are being developed and demonstrated. The production nature of cask receiving operations, suggests commercial robotics be incorporated into a remote handling system to reduce predicted worker exposure to acceptable levels while maintaining or increasing throughput. The first phase of cask handling system development culminated in a proof-of-principle test demonstrating the feasibility of performing cask receiving and unloading operations in a remote and ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The overall objective of the study in this report was to gather data on waste management technologies to allow comparison of various alternatives for managing municipal solid waste (MSW). The specific objectives of the study were to: 1. Compile detailed data for existing waste management technologies on costs, environmental releases, energy requirements and production, and coproducts such as recycled materials and compost. Identify missing information necessary to make energy, economic, and environmental comparisons of various MSW management technologies, and define needed research that could enhance the usefulness of the technology. 3. Develop a data base that can be used to identify the technology that best meets specific criteria defined by a user of the data base. Volume I contains the report text. Volume II contains supporting exhibits. Volumes III through X are appendices, each addressing a specific MSW management ...

CERN Document Server

Radioactive Waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

During the phases of separation, treatment, conditioning and storage of radioactive waste, destructive and nondestructive methods for their characterization are needed. In order to satisfy this necessity, in the frame of the National Program of Research and Development, the 'Laboratory for characterization of spent nuclear fuel and high/medium level radioactive waste- LABORAD' was created. The purpose of the project was to accredit the analysis methods available in the laboratory, and also to develop new methods for the characterization of the radioactive waste. A special attention was paid to the high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel characterization that require special facilities for handling. These facilities (e.g. hot cells, remote handlers, transport container) are already available in our institute. Experimental results and performances obtained during ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Identifying stable isotope variation and mineralogical changes in fractured rock may help establish the history of climatic and geomorphological processes that might affect the isolation properties of a waste repository site. This study examines the use of the stable isotope ratios of oxygen ({sup 18}O/{sup 16}O) and carbon ({sup 13}C/{sup 12}C) in authigenic minerals as hydrogeochemical tools tracing low-temperature rock-water interaction in variably-saturated fractured stuff. Isotopic compositions of fracture-filling and rock matrix minerals in the Apache Leap tuff, near Superior, Arizona were concordant with geothermal temperatures and in equilibrium with water isotopically similar to present-day meteoric water and groundwater. Oxygen and carbon isotope ratios of fracture-filling, in unsaturated fractured tuff, displayed an isotopic gradient believed to result from near-surface isotopic enrichment due to evaporation rather than the effects ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A mixture of crushed rock and bentonite is being considered as backfill and sealant for high-level nuclear waste repositories. Many variables affect the hydraulic conductivity of such a mixture, including the size and shape of the rock particles, method of mixing, water content and density of the clay, and the weight ratio of rock to clay. Mixtures of crushed basalt and bentonite have been tested to determine the relative effects of these variables. Two types of permeameters are used, 20 cm diameter stainless steel permeameters and 10 cm diameter clear PVC permeameters. Plugs are installed as a single lift or in many lifts; the water content of the clay ranged from air-dry (in most cases) to as high as 200%. Preliminary results show that a mixture of 75% crushed basalt and 25% bentonite has a hydraulic conductivity between 1 x 10/sup -9/ cm/s and 2.5 x 10/sup -8/ cm/s. In some cases, preferential flow paths have developed (possibly as a result ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Recent modifications to the EQ3/6 geochemical modeling software package provide for the use of Pitzer's equations to calculate the activity coefficients of aqueous species and the activity of water. These changes extend the range of solute concentrations over which the codes can be used to dependably calculate equilibria in geochemical systems, and permit the inclusion of ion pairs, complexes, and undissociated acids and bases as explicit component species in the Pitzer model. Comparisons of calculations made by the EQ3NR and EQ6 compuer codes with experimental data confirm that the modifications not only allow the codes to accurately evaluate activity coefficients in concentrated solutions, but also permit prediction of solubility limits of evaporite minerals in brines at 25/sup 0/C and elevated temperatures. Calculations for a few salts can be made at temperatures up to approx. 300/sup 0/C, but the temperature range for most electrolytes is constrained by the availability of ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The characterization data obtained to date are described for Approved Testing Material (ATM)-103, which is spent fuel from Assembly D101 of pressurized-water reactor Calvert Cliffs, No. 1. This report is one in a series being written by the Materials Characterization Center (MCC) at Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) on spent fuel ATMs. The ATMs are receiving extensive examinations to provide a source of well-characterized spent fuel for testing in the US nuclear waste repository program. ATM-103 consists of 176 full-length irradiated fuel rods with rod-average burnups of about 2600 GJ/kgM (30 MWd/kgM) and less than 1% fission gas release. Characterization data include 1) as-fabricated fuel design, irradiation history, and subsequent storage and handling; 2) isotopic gamma scans; 3) fission gas analyses; 4) ceramography of the fuel and metallography of the cladding; 5) special fuels studies involving analytical transmission electron microscopy ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The design of high level radioactive waste (HLW) repositories in deep geological media in which bentonite clay is proposed as a sealing material leads to the need of further studying the behaviour of highly compacted expansive soils when subjected to mechanical, hydraulic and thermal changes. Laboratory tests may help to understand the processes that take place in the clay barrier under simple and controlled conditions and to develop the governing equations. The laboratory tests enable to isolate the different processes, making their interpretation easier, and provide with fundamental data concerning the parameters to be used in the models. The extremely low permeability of these materials, their avidity for water (high suction) and their high swelling capacity make necessary the modification of the conventional laboratory techniques and procedures to determine basic physical parameters. The main hydraulic properties of the barrier to be ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The structural acceptance criteria contained herein for the evaluation of existing underground double-shell waste storage tanks located at the Hanford Site is part of the Life Management/Aging Management Program of the Tank Waste Remediation System. The purpose of the overall life management program is to ensure that confinement of the waste is maintained over the required service life of the tanks. Characterization of the present condition of the tanks, understanding and characterization of potential degradation mechanisms, and development of tank structural acceptance criteria based on previous service and projected use are prerequisites to assessing tank integrity, to projecting the length of tank service, and to developing and applying prudent fixes or repairs. The criteria provided herein summarize the requirements for the analysis and structural qualification of the existing ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

From 1991 to 1996, key studies on the reutilization, treatment, and disposal technology of hazardous wastes have been incorporated into the national plan for environmental protection science and technology. At present, the research achievements have been accomplished, have passed national approval, and have been accepted. The author of this paper, as leader of the national group for this research work, expounds the newest achievements of the studies involving four parts: (1) the reutilization technology of electroplating sludge, including the ion-exchange process for recovering the sludge and waste liquor for producing chromium tanning agent and extracting chromium and colloidal protein from tanning waste residue; on the recovery of heavy metals from the electroplating waste liquor with microbic purification; on the demonstration project of producing modified plastics from the ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Metal waste generated from domestic nuclear operation for defense and commercial application has led to a growing stockpile of radioactively contaminated scrap metal, much of which is stainless steel. A significant fraction of this material cannot be efficiently surface decontaminated. The burial of this material would be wasteful and expensive, since long term monitoring would be necessary in order to minimize environmental risk. Much of this waste consists of bulky equipment. In many case, this equipment contains valuable material that may be recycled. The piece of equipment considered frequently also has complex geometries, making extremely difficult, time-consuming and expensive to determine the exact location and level of radioactivity on the internal surfaces. After melting, however, the radioactivity may be precisely determined from samples of each ingot. Moreover, an ingot may be released for restricted or ...

Science.gov (United States)

PMID:21763121

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Actinide recycling by partitioning and transmutation is considered as one of the most promising strategies to reduce the inventory of radioactive waste, thus contributing to make nuclear energy sustainable. To make advances beyond the current state of the art in pyrochemical separations processes, the Domain 2 (DM2) of ACSEPT has been built on considering a process approach based on system studied. Four work packages that represent the main steps of a process block diagram have been identified: head-end steps, core process development, and salt treatment for recycling and waste conditioning. The results obtained in this domain will be integrated in DM 3 (Process) in order to orientate the R and D studies of DM2 and to propose and validate flowsheets at the end of the project. The state of the art on pyrochemical separation within the European Community and the working program of ACSEPT in pyrometallurgy are presented in ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An idea whose time has come takes center stage in London this week when BP Chemicals announces details of a consortium of chemical companies joining it in a new recycling project. In the project, which BP has been working on since 1989, waste plastic will be depolymerized to chemical feedstocks, via technology variously called feedstock or chemical recycling, polymer cracking, or tertiary recycling. BP's effort is one of the first to emerge from the research and pilot-plant stages that are committed to actual feedstock recycling of mixed polyolefins and other plastics. But it is only one of the many industry efforts under way to cope with the job of dealing with postconsumer plastics.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This ACDR was performed following completed of the Conceptual Design Report in July 1992; the work encompassed August 1992 to January 1994. Mission of the WRAP Module 2A facility is to receive, process, package, certify, and ship for permanent burial at the Hanford site disposal facilities the Category 1 and 3 contact handled low-level radioactive mixed wastes that are currently in retrievable storage at Hanford and are forecast to be generated over the next 30 years by Hanford, and waste to be shipped to Hanford from about DOE sites. This volume provides an introduction to the ACDR process and the scope of the task along with a project summary of the facility, treatment technologies, cost, and schedule. Major areas of departure from the CDR are highlighted. Descriptions of the facility layout and operations are included.

Environmental Research Database

Objectives~%~ To quantify the volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions arising from the composting of a range of municipal and~%~ industrial wastes.~%~~%~ To relate the VOC emissions to the material being processed and the process conditions.~%~~%~ To confirm the findings of the above activites by monitoring full-scale composting operations.~%~~%~ To develop predictive models of VOC emissions in relation to waste feedstock and process conditions.~%~~%~ To produce guidance for plant designers, operators a [continued...]DescriptionA recent study of three composting plants undertaken for the Environment Agency has confirmed earlier work suggesting that waste composting can be a source of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. However, these experiments were restricted to garden and kitchen waste composting schemes and it was not ...

Science.gov (United States)

This paper presents a summary of the first phase of the EPA project, which encompasses surveys of residues from industrial sources in Alexandria. Studies to date indicate that wastes from various industries can be recovered economically. Wastes such as tin cans, glass, wastepaper, and food residues from processing of fruits, starch, and beer are examples of reusable industrial wastes in Egypt. The results of experimental studies for reuse of residues from oil refining, starch and yeast processing, and steel pickling are presented. Spent clay from edible oil refining is currently discarded, causing both handling and disposal problems. This clay contains as much as 40% oil; 90% can be recovered by extraction. The recovered oil can be successfully used in soap production, and the spent clay can be reused in oil bleaching. Other examples include starch and yeast wastes, which can be ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oestfold Research has trough the project 'Climate accounts for disposal' for Waste Norway developed a model for calculation of net greenhouse gas emissions at the disposal of various waste types. The model is based on life cycle methodology according to the standard IS014044. This model has been used for plastic packaging in the project by adapting the basic values of specific conditions in the municipality of Fredrikstad. Oestfold Research has made an assessment of greenhouse gas emissions for the recycling and material recovery of plastic packaging from households in the district on assignment from Fredrikstad municipality and compared with the current solution where plastic packaging together with residual waste is used for energy utilisation. Based on the population in Fredrikstad and estimated amount of plastic packaging waste arising per ...

Wastenet

...Korea 2008 NOx charges as feebate in Sweden Pilot Project on Solid Waste Management in Khulna City: Community Organisation and Management Plastic Bag ban in Dhaka City, Bangladesh Policies on Conservation of the DMZ District Ecosystem Ministry of Environment Republic of Korea 2007 Policies on Promoting Environmental Industries and International Cooperation ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Summaries of the highlights of programs in the Earth Sciences Division are presented under four headings; Geosciences, Geothermal Energy Development, Nuclear Waste Isolation, and Marine Sciences. Utilizing both basic and applied research in a wide spectrum of topics, these programs are providing results that will be of value in helping to secure the nation's energy future. Separate abstracts have been prepared for each project for inclusion in the Energy Data Base. (DMC)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report provides a summary of progress for the project {open_quotes}Evaluation of the Geologic Relations and Seismotectonic Stability of the Yucca Mountain Area, Nevada Nuclear Waste Site Investigation (NNWSI).{close_quotes} A similar report was previously provided for the period of 1 October 1991 to 30 September 1992. The report initially covers the activities of the General Task and is followed by sections that describe the progress of the other ongoing tasks.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report presents a probabilistic safety assessment of radioactive doses as consequences from accident scenarios to complement the deterministic assessment presented in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Safety Analysis Report (SAR). The International Council of Radiation Protection (ICRP) recommends both assessments be conducted to ensure that ''an adequate level of safety has been achieved and that no major contributors to risk are overlooked'' (ICRP 1993). To that end, the probabilistic assessment for the WIPP accident scenarios addresses the wide range of assumptions, e.g. the range of values representing the radioactive source of an accident, that could possibly have been overlooked by the SAR. Routine releases of radionuclides from the WIPP repository to the environment during the waste emplacement operations are expected to be essentially zero. In contrast, potential ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Two criteria, geologic stability and barrier effectiveness, form the basis of the Subseabed Disposal Program's site qualification plan to evaluate the ocean basins and identify those regions having characteristics most favorable for containment of radioactive waste. Stability criteria are used to define those regions least likely to be disturbed by tectonic forces or oceanographic changes during the lifetime of a waste repository. Barrier criteria define those lithologies most likely to form an effective barrier to the release of radionuclides. Two north Pacific regions and three north Atlantic regions (PAC I and II and ATL I, II, and III, respectively) have thus far been selected for further investigation based on the site qualification plan. The PAC I region, centered on the Shatsky Rise in the northwest Pacific, has been subdivided into areas and locations on the basis of an exhaustive review of data available ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Long term integrated in situ experiments are performed in the HADES underground research facility (Mol, Belgium) in order to study the coupled reactivity between the different components of an underground repository for vitrified high level radioactive waste (HLW): glass, compacted clay, and stainless steel containers, at 90 degrees C and under gamma irradiation. Studies pertaining to the behaviour of silicon, a major element released during glass alteration, are presented here. Data collected from the integrated experiment, from simplified tests, and from modelling are put together, giving complementary information. The integrated experiment is used to investigate overall reactivity, whereas diffusion experiments coupled with modelling focused on the precipitation of silica in clay media. In the integrated in situ experiment, a bentonite clay (FoCa7) mixed with 5 wt.% of powdered glass frit was put in contact with U/Th-doped SON68 reference ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Under the auspices of the Mine Environment Neutral Drainage (MEND) Program, several waste rock piles were monitored and characterized. Acid rock drainage (ARD) became a mechanism better understood based on the data acquired during these projects. Numerical simulation was used to better comprehend the quantitative issues associated with the characterization of three specific sites for the purpose of this study. The sites selected were the south waste rock pile of the Doyon Mine in Quebec, the Northdale of the mining district of Ronnenberg in Germany, and the waste rock pile of the Sugar Shack South of the Questa mine in New Mexico. The observed and simulated conditions were very distinct from one mine to another, even if the same mechanisms were involved. The dominant oxygen and heat transfer mechanisms displayed the most varied behavior between the sites. ARD control or site rehabilitation decisions ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The overall objective of the study in this report was to gather data on waste management technologies to allow comparison of various alternatives for managing municipal solid waste (MSW). The specific objectives of the study were to: 1. Compile detailed data for existing waste management technologies on costs, environmental releases, energy requirements and production, and coproducts such as recycled materials and compost. Identify missing information necessary to make energy, economic, and environmental comparisons of various MSW management technologies, and define needed research that could enhance the usefulness of the technology. 3. Develop a data base that can be used to identify the technology that best meets specific criteria defined by a user of the data base. Volume I contains the report text. Volume II contains supporting exhibits. Volumes III through X are appendices, each addressing a specific MSW management ...

CERN Document Server

The Principles of Radioactive Waste Management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This Waste Management Plant (WMP) for the Bear Creek Valley Treatability Study addresses waste management requirements for the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. The study is intended to produce treatment performance data required to design a treatment system for contaminated groundwater. The treatability study will consist of an evaluation of various treatment media including: continuous column tests, with up to six columns being employed to evaluate the performance of different media in the treatment of groundwater; an evaluation of the denitrifying capacity and metal uptake capacity of a wetland system; and the long-term denitrifying capacity and metal uptake capacity of algal mats. The Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP) covers the project description, technical objectives, procedures, and planned work activities in greater detail. The Health and Safety Plan (HASP) addresses the health and safety concerns and requirements for the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The goal of this research project by the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) was to determine the potential for coal ash to serve as a {open_quote}functional filler{close_quotes} in plastics and other composite materials, with special emphasis on recycled plastics. The term functional filler is intended to indicate that the material added to the plastic does more than take up space and extend the use of the polymer. Determining the functional filler potential of ash was not the only intent of this project, since another prime objective was to find a use for materials currently considered waste. The term functional filler also opened a door to the use of cenospheres, which are currently marketed and for which there is sufficient market demand that they do not fit the category of a waste even though they are a product of coal combustion. Cenospheres, hollow spherical ash particles, were ...

Science.gov (United States)

No abstract prepared.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The decommissioning of the Sodium Reactor Experiment is essentially complete. Contaminated materials, equipment, and soil were removed, decreasing the residual radioactivity to levels acceptable for future unrestricted use of the site. The fuel was removed and declad, tooling and techniques to support the decommissioning were developed, bulk sodium and residual sodium films were removed, coolant systems were dismantled, the reactor vessel was dissected, the interior surfaces of the facilities were decontaminated, and waste materials were packaged and shipped to burial sites. Radiation exposure to workers and the public was within the guidelines and as low as reasonably achievable. In performing the project, new decontamination techniques were tested, decontamination equipment was evaluated, and waste disposal methods were developed.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This article comments on the fact that there are only 17 energy-from-waste installations in operation in the U.S. and in this respect it lags behind other industrialized nations. Explanations for this gap include the relatively inexpensive garbage disposal as landfill, operating difficulties of some early plants and the high cost of building such facilities. There has been a recent push to build resource-recovery plants and it is believed that chemical companies will probably buy energy products from such plants. Hooker Chemical Co's new energy-from-waste plant at Niagra Falls, N.Y. is described, other companies involved in resource-recovery projects are mentioned, and it is hoped that more companies will invest in such plants.

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

As the amount of biological data grows, so does the need for biologists to store and access this information in central repositories in a free and unambiguous manner. The European Bioinformatics Institute...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

... of waste food generated at McMurdo Station. Some of the difficulties of disposing of waste food ... change waste generation or management at the site? Yes. This will be a temporary waste management ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A negative public reaction is expected to oppose plans of the British energy industry to take valuable sites for industrial and commercial projects on the ground that government demand forecasts are too high and that they downplay conservation. The United Kingdom (UK) Department of Energy points out that public inquiry always accompanies energy installations and defends the projections made by producers even though each study emphasizes the demand for its own form of energy. At issue are plans to open 150 opencast coal mines a year to compensate for diminishing oil and gas supplies, onshore drilling by oil and gas exploration teams on nearly 50,000 km/sup 2/, and sites required for onshore pipelines, synthetic natural gas facilities, pumped storage plants, and nuclear power stations and waste management. The sites under discussion raise aesthetic and ecological concerns. (DCK)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

As part of an ongoing strategic research project to find barrels of radioactive waste off San Francisco, the U.S. Navy (USN), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS) pooled their expertise, resources, and technology to form a partnership to verify new computer enhancement techniques developed for detecting targets the size of 55 gallon barrels on sidescan sonar images. Between 1946 and 1970, approximately 47,800 large barrels and other containers of radioactive waste were dumped in the ocean west of San Francisco; the containers litter an area of the sea floor of at least 1400 km {sup 2} knows as the Farallon Island Radioactive Waste Dump. The exact location of the containers and the potential hazard the containers pose to the environment is unknown. The USGS developed computer techniques and contracted with private industry to enhance sidescan ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report is published in the framework of the 1991 French law for the nuclear waste management. The state of the art reported here concerns the long term evolution of spent fuel in the various environmental conditions corresponding to dry storage and geological disposal: closed system, air and water saturated medium. This review is based on the results of the french PRECCI project (Research Program on Long term Evolution of Spent Nuclear Fuel) and on literature data. (authors)

CERN Document Server

Choosing a medical device is complex and requires a transparent process based on reason, evidence and assessment of prioritized public health needs. Poor choices lead to inappropriate use or non-use of medical devices and a waste of resources.This report suggests how an agenda to improve access to appropriate medical devices could be devised from applying the crucial 4 components - Availability, Accessibility, Appropriateness, and Affordability, to the 15 global high-burden diseases and some cross-cutting issues. The results of this exercise suggest several areas of research necessary to help

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This bibliography contains citations concerning Federal and state laws and management programs for the protection and use of inland wetlands. Utilization of wetlands to control highway runoff and community waste water is discussed. Wetlands protection programs, restoration projects, resource planning, and wetlands identification methods are cited. References to coastal and salt-water wetlands are excluded from this bibliography. (This updated bibliography contains 219 citations, 37 of which are new entries to the previous edition.)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valuing present citizen's values regarding the risks they face is an important aspect of risk assessment and risk acceptability. Conferences like VALDOR are held for this reason. Governments like Sweden have national referendums on various risk-prone enterprises. The results of these referendums can determine the future of these programs. In the United States, when guidelines are set for determining acceptable levels of risk, the relevant federal agencies are often required to provide a comment period regarding proposed guidelines in order to ascertain the judgments, including the weights place on certain values, of individual members of society as well as stakeholder groups. After the comment period ends, the agency decides on the acceptable level of risk, taking into account the comments from present citizens. Do we also have a duty to value the not-yet-existing values of future citizens, especially if the risks created by the activities of present citizens extend into the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In attempting to detect and map out underground facilities, whether they be large-scale hardened deeply-buried targets (HDBT's) or small-scale tunnels for clandestine border or perimeter crossing, seismic imaging using reflections from the tunnel interface has been seen as one of the better ways to both detect and delineate tunnels from the surface. The large seismic impedance contrast at the tunnel/rock boundary should provide a strong, distinguishable seismic response, but in practice, such strong indicators are often lacking. One explanation for the lack of a good seismic reflection at such a strong contrast boundary is that the damage caused by the tunneling itself creates a zone of altered seismic properties that significantly changes the nature of this boundary. This report examines existing geomechanical data that define the extent of an excavation damage zone around underground tunnels, and the potential impact on rock properties such as P-wave and S-wave velocities. ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The proposed design for a final repository for spent fuel and other long-lived residues in Sweden is based on the multi-barrier principle. The waste will be encapsulated in sealed cylindrical canisters, which will then be placed in granite bedrock and surrounded by compacted bentonite clay. The canister design is based on a thick cast inner container fitted inside a corrosion-resistant copper canister. During fabrication of the outer copper canisters there will be some unavoidable grain growth in the welded areas. As grains grow they will tend to concentrate impurities within the copper at the new grain boundaries. The work described in this report was undertaken to determine whether there is any possibility of enhanced corrosion at grain boundaries within the copper canister. The potential for grain boundary corrosion was investigated by exposing copper specimens, which had undergone different heat treatments and hence had different grain ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report, the ORNL Long-Range Environmental and Waste Management Plan, is the annual update in a series begun in fiscal year 1985. Its primary purpose is to provide a thorough and systematic planning document to reflect the continuing process of site assessment, strategy development, and planning for the current and long-term control of environmental issues, waste management practices, and remedial action requirements. The document also provides an estimate of the resources required to implement the current plan. This document is not intended to be a budget document; it is, however, intended to provide guidance to both Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., and the US Department of Energy (DOE) management as to the near order of magnitude of the resources (primarily funding requirements) and the time frame required to execute the strategy in the present revision of the plan. As with any document of this nature, the near-term (one to three ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We describe in a comprehensive fashion the Los Alamos second-generation system for passive and active neutron assays of drum-size containers. The developmental history of this 7-year project is presented with emphasis on the pulsed active neutron technique (differential dieaway), which has achieved milligram levels of assay sensitivity for both plutonium and uranium wastes. We describe in detail the matrix effects for both passive and active neutron assays. We present in a thorough fashion our novel approach to achieving comprehensive corrections for these matrix effects using measurements made during the assays. We develop a matrix correction formalism based on separate neutron absorption and moderator indices determined from these measurements. These are presented as a series of analytic functions fitted to the data. Absolute calibrations and calibration standards are discussed, as is a practical means (pink drum measurements) of achieving ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

ARIES-AT is a 1000 MWe conceptual fusion power plant design with a very low projected cost of electricity. The design contains many innovative features to improve both the physics and engineering performance of the system. From the safety and environmental perspective, there is greater depth to the overall analysis than in past ARIES studies. For ARIES-AT, the overall spectrum of off-normal events to be examined has been broadened. They include conventional loss of coolant and loss of flow events, an ex-vessel loss of coolant, and in-vessel off-normal events that mobilize in-vessel inventories (e.g., tritium and tokamak dust) and bypass primary confinement such as a loss of vacuum and an in-vessel loss of coolant with bypass. This broader examination of accidents improves the robustness of the design from the safety perspective and gives additional confidence that the facility can meet the no-evacuation requirement under average weather conditions. We also provide ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The radionuclide characteristics of light-water-reactor (LWR) spent fuel play key roles in the design and licensing activities for radioactive waste transportation systems, interim storage facilities, and the final repository site. Several areas of analysis require detailed information concerning the time-dependent behavior of radioactive nuclides including (1) neutron/gamma-ray sources for shielding studies, (2) fissile/absorber concentrations for criticality safety determinations, (3) residual decay heat predictions for thermal considerations, and (4) curie and/or radiological toxicity levels for materials assumed to be released into the ground/environment after long periods of time. The crucial nature of the radionuclide predictions over both short and long periods of time has resulted in an increased emphasis on thorough validation for radionuclide generation/depletion codes. Current radionuclide generation/depletion codes have the ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In the framework of nuclear waste transmutation studies, the Mini-INCA project has been initiated at CEA/DSM with objectives to determine optimal conditions for transmutation and incineration of minor actinides (MA) in high intensity neutron fluxes. Our experimental tools based on alpha- and gamma-spectroscopy of the samples and the development of micro fission chambers could gather either microscopic information on nuclear reactions (total or partial cross sections for neutron capture and/or fission reactions) or macroscopic information on transmutation and incineration potentials. Neutron capture cross sections of selected actinides ({sup 241}Am, {sup 242}Am, {sup 242}Pu, {sup 237}Np) have already been measured at ILL, showing some discrepancies when compared to evaluated data libraries but in overall good agreement with recent data. The studies and possibilities offer by the MEGAPIE project to assess neutronic ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This final report for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) is one of a series of reports concerning municipal development in various cities in Switzerland. The four city districts involved include Basel (Gundeldinger Feld), Lausanne (Bellevaux), Lucerne (Basel-/Bernstrasse) and Zurich (Werdwies). This paper takes a look at aspects of building ecology. In the four areas, the following building types and projects were examined with respect to their ecology: Basel: conversion of commercial premises to a community centre, Lausanne and Lucerne: Enhancement of residential areas, Zurich: a new residential building. Criteria examined include general building ecology, building materials, raw materials, toxic substances, recycling, maintenance and deconstruction, energy for heating and hot water, grey energy, electricity, ground usage, water, wastes and public infrastructure. Knowledge gained along with questions and problems still to be addressed ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The WAND (Waste Assay for Nonradioactive Disposal) system can scan thought-to-be-clean, low-density waste (mostly paper and plastics) to determine whether the levels of any contaminant radioactivity are low enough to justify their disposal in normal public landfills or similar facilities. Such a screening would allow probably at least half of the large volume of low-density waste now buried at high cost in LANL`s Rad Waste Landfill (Area G at Technical Area 54) to be disposed of elsewhere at a much lower cost. The WAND System consists of a well-shielded bank of six 5-in.-diam. phoswich scintillation detectors; a mechanical conveyor system that carries a 12-in.-wide layer of either shredded material or packets of paper sheets beneath the bank of detectors; the electronics needed to process the outputs of the detectors; and a small computer to control the whole system and to perform the data analysis. ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The subject document reports the results of an in-depth investigation of the fiscal year 1993 cost of the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, integrated municipal solid waste management (IMSWM) system, the energy consumed to operate the system, and the environmental performance requirements for each of the system`s waste-processing and disposal facilities. The document reports actual data from records kept by participants. Every effort was made to minimize the use of assumptions, and no attempt is made to interpret the data reported. Analytical approaches are documented so that interested analysts may perform manipulation or further analysis of the data. As such, the report is a reference document for Municipal Solid Waste management professionals who are interested in the actual costs and energy consumption, for a 1-year period, of an operating IMSWM system. The report is organized into two main parts. The first part is ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The results of the thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) study of the FEBEX bentonite performed during FEBEX II are presented. The laboratory test program continued in part with the works carried out during FEBEX I, particularly in activities related to tests aimed to the calibration of the models, the acquisition of parameters by back-analysis and the improvement of the knowledge on the behaviour of expansive clays. But the program has also included tests on new areas: investigations about the influence of the microstructure changes in bentonite, of temperature and of the solute concentration on the behaviour of clay. Besides, several tests were proposed in order to understand the unexpected behaviour observed in the mock-up test, towards the end of year 2. Temperature effects on water retention curves in confined and unconfined conditions were determined, and swelling pressure, hydraulic conductivity and swelling and consolidation strains as a function of temperature were successfully ...

Science.gov (United States)

The German-Russian project that is part of the G8 initiative on Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction focuses on the speedy construction of a land-based interim storage facility for nuclear submarine reactor compartments at Sayda Bay near Murmansk. This project includes the required infrastructure facilities for long-term storage of about 150 reactor compartments for a period of about 70 years. The interim storage facility is a precondition for effective activities of decommissioning and dismantlement of almost all nuclear-powered submarines of the Russian Northern Fleet. The project also includes the establishment of a computer-assisted waste monitoring system. In addition, the project involves clearing Sayda Bay of other shipwrecks of the Russian navy. On the German side the project is carried out by the ...

J-STORE (Japan)

Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In conjunction with the US Enviromental Protection Agency sponsored Shawnee test program, Bechtel National, Inc., and the Tennessee Valley Authority jointly developed a computer model capable of projecting preliminary design and economics for lime- and limestone-scrubbing flue gas desulfurization systems. The model is capable of projecting relative economics for spray tower, turbulent contact absorber, and venturi-spray tower scrubbing options. It may be used to project the effect on system design and economics of variations in required SO/sub 2/ removal, scrubber operating parameters (gas velocity, liquid-to-gas (L/G) ration, alkali stoichiometry, liquor hold time in slurry recirculation tanks), reheat temperature, and scrubber bypass. It may also be used to evaluate alternative waste disposal methods or additives (MgO or adipic acid) on costs for the selected process. Although the model is not ...

Wastenet

...Species - see CITES Trade of Dangerous Chemicals Transport and Environment U Urban Environment Use of natural resources V Volatile Organic Compounds W Waste Landfills Waste electrical and electronic equipment - see WEEE Waste incineration Waste legislation - reporting Waste management planning Waste oils Waste shipments Waste water - see Urban waste water Water Bathing Water Drinking water Floods Marine environment Urban waste water Water Framework Directive WEEE - Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment Wildlife ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A number of ion exchange materials are being evaluated as part of the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) Pretreatment Project for the removal of "1"3"7Cs from aqueous tank wastes. Two of these materials are organic resins; a phenol-formaldehyde resin (Duolite CS-100) produced by Rohm and Haas Co. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and a resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resin produced by Boulder Scientific Co. (Mead, Colorado). One of the key parameters in the assessment of the organic based ion exchange materials is its useful lifetime in the radioactive and chemical environment that will be encountered during waste processing. The focus of the work presented in this report is the radiation stability of the CS-100 and the RF resins. The scope of the testing included one test with a sample of the CS-100 resin and testing of two batches of the RF resin (BSC-187 and BSC-210). ...

Science.gov (United States)

This report has been prepared in conjunction with an environmental baseline study for a commercial coal conversion facility being conducted by Ashland Synthetic Fuels, Inc. (ASFI) and Airco Energy Company (AECO). This report represents a cultural resource assessment for the proposed plant site and two potential solid waste disposal areas. This assessment presents data collected by Dames and Moore during a recent archaeological reconnaissance of the unsurveyed southeastern portion of the proposed plant site and two potential solid waste disposal areas. Also, results of two previous surveys on the northern and southwestern portion of the plant site for American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) and Kentucky Utilities are included. The Dames and Moore survey of the southeastern portion of the plant site identified one archaeological site, three standing structures and one historic cemetery. In addition 47 archaeological sites and six standing ...

Science.gov (United States)

This paper summarizes the progress to date by CH2M HILL and the UKAEA in development of a parametric modelling capability for estimating the costs of large nuclear decommissioning projects in the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe. The ability to successfully apply parametric cost estimating techniques will be a key factor to commercial success in the UK and European multi-billion dollar waste management, decommissioning and environmental restoration markets. The most useful parametric models will be those that incorporate individual components representing major elements of work: reactor decommissioning, fuel cycle facility decommissioning, waste management facility decommissioning and environmental restoration. Models must be sufficiently robust to estimate indirect costs and overheads, permit pricing analysis and adjustment, and accommodate the intricacies of international monetary exchange, currency fluctuations and ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fact sheet on an analysis system for dyebath processes in the carpet manufacturing industry written for the NICE3 Program. The Georgia Institute of Technology (G.I.T.) has developed an effective automated dyebath analysis and reuse system that improves the energy, environmental, and economic performance of dyehouse batch operations. The new system enables dyeing solutions to be accurately monitored and adjusted for reuse. According to industry estimates, 160 pounds of water are used to produce each pound of textile product. The current wasteful batch dyeing process requires all water and residual chemicals, as well as the energy required to heat the mixture for dyeing, to be dumped after one application. Spent dyebaths can only be reused after they are sampled, analyzed, and reconstituted, a process requiring labor and expertise that are unavailable in the dyehouses. Therefore, successful commercial reuse depends on an automated analysis system that precisely ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The objectives of this project were to develop technologies to manufacture self-reducing briquettes out of waste iron oxides and to recycle them in an electric arc furnace or a cupola furnace. CRM has investigated and determined the optimal characteristics (binder, size, grain size, compositions and activator for the reduction reaction) for briquettes containing mixtures of mill scales, mill sludges, electric arc furnace (EAF) dust and coal as reduction agent. The goal of obtaining briquettes, in which iron oxides are totally reduced when these briquettes are loaded with the scrap into an electric arc furnace, was achieved. Trials at ProfilARBED have shown that it is possible to recycle mill and EAF by-products conditioned in self-reducing briquettes in an electric arc furnace without influence on the performance and on the environment. The iron content of the slag does not increase as the iron of the by-product is almost completely reduced. ...

Science.gov (United States)

... Other Sources Toxics Intranet Subsurface Injection of Liquid Waste -- Florida Surface features of a typical...

CERN Document Server

Radiation protection and the management of radioactive waste in the oil and gas industry

Science.gov (United States)

... wood, kitchen wastes, and human faeces. The ash from such waste burning shall be deposited and ...

Science.gov (United States)

... in ATCM Recommendation XIV-2. The USAP's materials and waste management efforts are consistent with ...

Wastenet

for municipal waste iron ore sinter plants incinerators for clinical waste facilities of the non-ferrous metal

KoreaScience (Korea)

Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In this book are found technical and scientific papers on the main works of the Direction of the Fuel Cycle (DCC) in France. The study fields are: the up-side of the nuclear fuel cycle with theoretical studies (plasma simulation) and technological developments and instrumentation (lasers diodes, carbides plasma projection, carbon 13 enrichment); the down-side nuclear fuel cycle with theoretical studies (ion Eu{sup 3+} complexation simulation, decay simulation, uranium and plutonium diffusion study, electrolyser operating simulation), scenario studies ( recycling, wastes management), experimental studies; dismantling and cleaning (soils cleaning, surface-active agent for decontamination, fault tree analysis); analysis with expert systems and mass spectrometry. (A.L.B.)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This report is the result of field work performed at the former White Point Nike Missile Site, San Pedro, California. The Hazardous Waste Remedial Actions Program tasked the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Pollutant Assessments Group in Grand Junction, Colo., with this project. The objective was to determine whether or not radioisotopes possibly associated with past Department of Defense (DOD) operations were present and within accepted background levels. The radiation survey was accomplished by performing three independent radiation surveys, both outdoors and indoors, and random soil sampling. Initially, the site was land surveyed to develop a grid block system. A background radiation investigation was performed out in the San Pedro area.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT) conducts research and development activities which focus on improving energy efficiency and providing for fuel flexibility within US industry in the area of industrial conservation. The mission of OIT is to increase the utilization of existing energy-efficient equipment and to find and promote new, cost-effective ways for industrial facilities to improve their energy efficiency and minimize waste products. To ensure advancement of the technological leadership of the United States and to improve the competitiveness of American industrial products in world markets, OIT works closely with industrial partners, the staffs of the national laboratories, and universities to identify research and development needs and to solve technological challenges. This report contains summaries of the currently active projects supported by the Office of Industrial Technologies.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

While it is difficult to prove that a specific material is causing contamination in a landfill, tests have been conducted at waste-to-energy facilities that indicate that household batteries contribute significant amounts of heavy metals to both air emissions and ash residue. Hennepin County, MN, used a dual approach for developing and implementing a special household battery collection. Alternative collection methods were examined; test collections were conducted. The second phase examined operating and disposal policy issues. This report describes the results of the grant project, moving from a broad examination of the construction and content of batteries, to a description of the pilot collection programs, and ending with a discussion of variables affecting the cost and operation of a comprehensive battery collection program. Three out-of-state companies (PA, NY) were found that accept spent batteries; difficulties in reclaiming household ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report reviews coal conversion processes which may be introduced in Canada within the next decade if interest in alternate energy technologies continues. A detailed review was conducted on coal liquefaction and gasification projects worldwide including information on individual proprietors, process technologies used, their present status and available environmental data. Further assessment of emissions and wastes emanating from commercial-scale plants was used to determine significant or potentially significant wastestreams connected to the various technologies, particularly wastewater discharges. Emphasis was placed on those technologies that are close to commercialization in Canada, i.e. SASOL II-type liquefaction facility at Hat Creek. Available information on wastewater treatment/reuse is also included in this report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report is to present the progress made on the project ''Establishment of an Environmental Control Technology Laboratory (ECTL) with a Circulating Fluidized-Bed Combustion (CFBC) System'' during the period July 1, 2004 through September 30, 2004. The following tasks have been completed. First, renovation of the new Combustion Laboratory and the construction of the Circulating Fluidized-Bed (CFB) Combustor Building have started. Second, the design if the component parts of the CFBC system have been reviewed and finalized so that the drawings may be released to the manufacturers during the next quarter. Third, the experiments for solid waste (chicken litter) incineration have been conducted using a Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA). This is in preparation for testing in the simulated fluidized-bed combustor. The experimental results from this study are presented in this report. Finally, the proposed work for ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This article reports on the operation of Fibrowatt's third chicken waste-fuelled power plant at Thetford in Norfolk, UK. Details are given of the plant which started operation in October 1998, the chicken litter fuel, the spiral screw fuel feeders, the Detroit Stoker grate and spreader stokers which ensure the fuel is burnt mid-air, the production of fertiliser from the ash, and fluegas emission control using cyclones, a baghouse and lime addition to neutralise acid gas. The economics of the project, and the support for the renewable electricity generation under the UK government's Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation are discussed. A site plan of the Thetford plant and a flow diagram of the process are provided.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Plutonium-Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Plant, conceived during the early Cold War years, was a vehicle to increase significantly US nuclear weapons production capacity. The original PUREX Plant was a concrete rectangle 1,005 feet long and 61.5 feet wide. The shielding capacity of the concrete was designed so that personnel in non-regulated service areas would not receive radiation in excess of 0.1 millirem per hour. This report discusses the design of the PUREX Plant, the production chronology, projects and equipment changes, equipment decontamination and reuse, waste management, and contamination events that have occurred during the operation of the plant. Additionally, the development and history of the Uranium Trioxide Plant are also covered.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This volume contains 5 appendices. Title listing are: technologies for recovery of transuranics; nondestructive assay of TRU contaminated wastes; miscellaneous waste characteristics; acceptance criteria for TRU waste; and TRU waste treatment technologies.

Wastenet

1 to the operator of a waste collective system by an agreement or contract. The conditions for the ...Fees of the waste collective system are subject to the supervision of the authority responsible for market surveillance. ...The operator of waste collection system collects wastes from producers and holder and transports these to a collection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The objective of the Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project (HEDR) is to estimate the potential radiation doses received by people living within the sphere of influence of the Hanford Site. A potential critical pathway for human radiation exposure is through the consumption of waterfowl that frequent onsite waste-water ponds or through eating of fish, shellfish, and waterfowl that reside in/on the Columbia River and its tributaries downstream of the reactors. This document summarizes information on fish, shellfish, and waterfowl radiation contamination for samples collected by Hanford monitoring personnel and offsite agencies for the period 1945 to 1972. Specific information includes the types of organisms sampled, the kinds of tissues and organs analyzed, the sampling locations, and the radionuclides reported. Some tissue concentrations are also included. We anticipate that these yearly summaries will be helpful to individuals and ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The EMP consists of a Compliance Monitoring Sampling Program and a Supplemental monitoring Sampling Program. The Compliance Monitoring Sampling Program will be conducted during a summer and a winter Baseline periods during the Pre-Construction/Construction phases of the Project and during a summer and a winter period following the successful Startup and Operational phase of the completed Project. compliance monitoring consist of conducting all the sampling and observation programs associated with existing required Federal, State, and Local Regulations, Permits and Orders. These include air, water, and waste monitoring and OSHA and NESHAP monitoring. The Supplemental Monitoring Program will also be conducted during a summer and a winter Baseline periods during the Pre-Construction/Construction phases of the Demonstration Facility and during a summer and a winter period following the successful startup and Operational phase ...

Science.gov (United States)

A one-year technology-transfer project involving ERDA installations and Hawaii consisted of sending teams from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory on week-long field trips every two months to test the effectiveness of different methods of transferring technology information from federal sources to civilian clients. The team was questioned primarily on non-energy matters, and the energy questions asked related mostly to individuals or small industries. The team responed to all questions and found that a wide range of knowledge was more effective than having a sequence of experts. Hawaiians considered current major ERDA projects to be irrelevant to their needs. The team was most successful on a one-to-one basis because large groups and state agencies tend to be more policy- than action-oriented. Personal followup was considered essential. The team also learned that their visits generated ten times as many inquiries as were received unsolicited by ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report summarises nearly 20 biosphere reports and gives a synthesis of the work performed within the SR-Site Biosphere project, i.e. the biosphere part of SR-Site. SR-Site Biosphere provides the main project with dose conversion factors (LDFs), given a unit release rate, for calculation of human doses under different release scenarios, and assesses if a potential release from the repository would have detrimental effects on the environment. The intention of this report is to give sufficient details for an overview of methods, results and major conclusions, with references to the biosphere reports where methods, data and results are presented and discussed in detail. The philosophy of the biosphere assessment was to make estimations of the radiological risk for humans and the environment as realistic as possible, based on the knowledge of present-day conditions at Forsmark and the past and expected future development of ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

According to the present concept, the low and intermediate level wastes generated during the Cernavoda NPP operation will be disposed in a near surface repository. The Saligny site, placed in the NPP protected area, has been proposed for their disposal. Geologically, the main components of this site are the quaternary loess, the Precambrian and Pre-quaternary clays, the Eocene and Barremian limestone. Hydrologically, the site can be divided into a vadose zone down to 45-50 m and three distinct aquifers, two of them in the limestone beds and the third in the lenses of sand and limestone existing in the pre-quaternary clay layer. A large research program for site characterization was initiated in 1996. At present, the site characteristics requested for safety analysis have been experimentally measured on soil samples or calculated by different computer programs. Hundreds of experimental values of the density, porosity, hydraulic conductivity, ...