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Latest News
DNFSB spots possible bottleneck in Hanford’s waste vitrification
Workers change out spent 27,000-pound TSCR filter columns and place them on a nearby storage pad during a planned outage in 2023. (Photo: DOE)
While the Department of Energy recently celebrated the beginning of hot commissioning of the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), which has begun immobilizing the site’s radioactive tank waste in glass through vitrification, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has reported a possible bottleneck in waste processing. According to the DNFSB, unless current systems run efficiently, the issue could result in the interruption of operations at the WTP’s Low-Activity Waste Facility, where waste vitrification takes place.
During operations, the LAW Facility will process an average of 5,300 gallons of tank waste per day, according to Bechtel, the contractor leading design, construction, and commissioning of the WTP. That waste is piped to the facility after being treated by Hanford’s Tanks Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system, which filters undissolved solid material and removes cesium from liquid waste.
According to a November 7 activity report by the DNFSB, the TSCR system may not be able to produce waste feed fast enough to keep up with the LAW Facility’s vitrification rate.
H. Yamada, A. Komori, S. Morimoto, O. Motojima, A. Sagara, M. Sato, M. Murakami, T. C. Jernigan, T. S. Bigelow, R. J Colchin, A.C. England, C. C. Klepper, J.F. Lyon, J. E. Simpkins, J. B Wilgen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 27 | Number 3 | April 1995 | Pages 227-230
Helical Systems | doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A11947075
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A 4667-second long discharge has been obtained in the ATF torsatron. The total amount of the energy input was 330MJ. The set-up procedures, the control of plasma parameters, and the effect on the wall conditioning for the long pulse discharge are reported in this paper. Fast density feedback control is not useful for a long-pulse operation; control of the neutral pressure on a slower time scale is necessary. Long-pulse discharges are quite effective for wall conditioning. Valuable experiences have been accumulated in the future experiments planned for LHD.
