Overview of Fiscal Year 2002 Research and Developmentfor Savannah River Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility

摘要

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) high-level waste program isresponsible for storage, treatment, and immobilization of high-level waste for disposal. The SaltProcessing Program (SPP) is the salt (soluble) waste treatment portion of the SRS high-levelwaste effort. The overall SPP encompasses the selection, design, construction and operation oftreatment technologies to prepare the salt waste feed material for the site's grout facility(Saltstone) and vitrification facility (Defense Waste Processing Facility). Major constituents thatmust be removed from the salt waste and sent as feed to Defense Waste Processing Facilityinclude actinides, strontium, cesium, and entrained sludge.In fiscal year 2002 (FY02), research and development (R&D) on the actinide and strontiumremoval and Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) processes transitioned from technologydevelopment for baseline process selection to providing input for conceptual design of the SaltWaste Processing Facility. The SPP R&D focused on advancing the technical maturity, riskreduction, engineering development, and design support for DOE's engineering, procurement,and construction (EPC) contractors for the Salt Waste Processing Facility. Thus, R&D in FY02addressed the areas of actual waste performance, process chemistry, engineering tests ofequipment, and chemical and physical properties relevant to safety.All of the testing, studies, and reports were summarized and provided to the DOE to support theSalt Waste Processing Facility, which began conceptual design in September 2002.