Demonstration of the Glycolic-Formic Flowsheet in the Srnl Shielded Cells Using Actual Waste

摘要

Glycolic acid was effective at dissolving many metals, including iron, during processing with simulants. Criticality constraints take credit for the insolubility of iron during processing to prevent criticality of fissile materials. Testing with actual waste was needed to determine the extent of iron and fissile isotope dissolution during Chemical Process Cell (CPC) processing. The Alternate Reductant Project was initiated by the Savannah River Remediation (SRR) Company to explore options for the replacement of the nitric-formic flowsheet used for the CPC at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF). The goals of the Alternate Reductant Project are to reduce CPC cycle time, increase mass throughput of the facility, and reduce operational hazards. In order to achieve these goals, several different reductants were considered during initial evaluations conducted by Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL). After review of the reductants by SRR, SRNL, and Energy Solutions (ES) Vitreous State Laboratory (VSL), two flowsheets were further developed in parallel. The two flowsheet options included a nitric-formic-glycolic flowsheet, and a nitric-formic-sugar flowsheet. As of July 2011, SRNL and ES/VSL have completed the initial flowsheet development work for the nitric-formic-glycolic flowsheet and nitric-formic-sugar flowsheet, respectively. On July 12th and July 13th, SRR conducted a Systems Engineering Evaluation (SEE) to down select the alternate reductant flowsheet.