DEVELOPMENT OF AN EFFICIENT AND COST EFFECTIVE APPROACH FOR THE REMEDIATION OF NUMEROUS MIXED WASTE STREAMS

摘要

One of the significant challenges in completing remediation activities at most Department ofEnergy (DOE) sites is the treatment or stabilization and disposal of mixed waste. A multitude oftreatment approaches must be deployed to satisfactorily remediate the wide variety of technicalissues found in the mixed waste streams at most sites. The treatment of these waste streams isoften made even more difficult since these streams can be very small in size and unique inphysical properties. Treatment of these small, unique waste streams is difficult from a licensingand permitting standpoint and often is very expensive on a unit cost basis.The RMI Decommissioning Project (RMIDP) in Ashtabula, Ohio has developed a remediationapproach that uses on-site treatment as the principal mechanism for dispositioning over 580cubic meters (approximately 20,000 cubic feet) of legacy mixed waste. These materials exist asseveral small volume waste streams, many of which are not acceptable at commercial treatmentfacilities. The on-site treatment approach has the advantage of lowering off-site treatment anddisposal costs which can be very significant when dealing with a multitude of small volumemixed waste streams.The treatment approach implemented by the RMIDP uses several technologies such as moltensalt oxidation, macro/micro-encapsulation, stabilization through compression forming andplasma arc processing. Each of these technologies has been proven technically feasible throughDOE sponsored programs. The deployment of these technologies will allow the RMIDP to costeffectively meet federally mandated mixed waste disposition milestones and will make thetechnologies available to other DOE sites faced with similar small waste stream disposalproblems. Licensing and permitting activities, treatability testing, and system engineering forsystem installation are currently underway. The RMIDP will commence treatment of mixedwaste streams in FY1999. On-site treatment of the RMIDP mixed waste is expected to save theRMIDP over $2.0 Million when compared to baseline costs for treatment and disposal off-site.