Waste behavior during horizontal extrusion: Effect of waste strength for bentonite and kaolin/ludox simulants and strength estimates for wastes from Hanford waste tanks 241-SY-103, AW-101, AN-103, and S-102

摘要

The Hanford Site has 149 single-shell tanks (SSTs) and 28 double-shell tanks (DSTs) containing radioactive wastes that are complex mixes of radioactive and chemical products. Some of these wastes are known to generate mixtures of flammable gases, including hydrogen, nitrous oxide, and ammonia. Nineteen of these SSTs and six of the DSTs have been placed on the Flammable Gas Watch List because they are known or suspected, in all but one case, to retain these flammable gases. Because these gases are flammable, their retention and episodic release pose a number of safety concerns. The overall purpose of this study is to develop a method to obtain strength estimates for actual wastes from observations of the wastes' behavior during extrusion from core samplers. The first objective of the study was to quantify waste behavior during horizontal extrusion by documenting the extrusion behavior of simulants with known strengths; the second was to estimate the strength of actual waste based on these simulant standards. Results showed a reproducible extrusion behavior for bentonite clay and kaolin/Ludox(reg sign) simulants over strengths ranging from 30 to 6,500 Pa. The extrusion behavior was documented with both video recordings and still images. Based on these visual standards, strength estimates were made for wastes from DSTs 241-SY-103, 241-AW-101, and 241-AN-103, and SST 241-S-102.