Ferrocyanide safety project ferrocyanide aging studies. Final report

摘要

This final report gives the results of the work conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) from FY 1992 to FY 1996 on the Ferrocyanide Aging Studies, part of the Ferrocyanide Safety Project. The Ferrocyanide Safety Project was initiated as a result of concern raised about the safe storage of ferrocyanide waste intermixed with oxidants, such as nitrate and nitrite salts, in Hanford Site single-shell tanks (SSTs). In the laboratory, such mixtures can be made to undergo uncontrolled or explosive reactions by heating dry reagents to over 200(degrees)C. In 1987, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), published by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Final Environmental Impact Statement, Disposal of Hanford Defense High-Level Transuranic and Tank Waste, Hanford Site, Richland, Washington, included an environmental impact analysis of potential explosions involving ferrocyanide-nitrate mixtures. The EIS postulated that an explosion could occur during mechanical retrieval of saltcake or sludge from a ferrocyanide waste tank, and concluded that this worst-case accident could create enough energy to release radioactive material to the atmosphere through ventilation openings, exposing persons offsite to a short-term radiation dose of approximately 200 mrem. Later, in a separate study (1990), the General Accounting Office postulated a worst-case accident of one to two orders of magnitude greater than that postulated in the DOE EIS. The uncertainties regarding the safety envelope of the Hanford Site ferrocyanide waste tanks led to the declaration of the Ferrocyanide Unreviewed Safety Question (USQ) in October 1990.