1/12-Scale scoping experiments to characterize double-shell tank slurry uniformity: Test plan

摘要

Million gallon double-shell tanks (DSTs) at Hanford are used to store transuranic, high-level, and low-level wastes. These wastes generally consist of a large volume of salt-laden solution covering a smaller volume of settled sludge primarily containing metal hydroxides. These wastes will be retrieved and processed into immobile waste forms suitable for permanent disposal. The current retrieval concept is to use submerged dual-nozzle pumps to mobilize the settled solids by creating jets of fluid that are directed at the tank solids. The pumps oscillate, creating arcs of high-velocity fluid jets that sweep the floor of the tank. After the solids are mobilized, the pumps will continue to operate at a reduced flow rate sufficient to maintain the particles in a uniform suspension. The objectives of these 1/12-scale scoping experiments are to determine how Reynolds number, Froude number, and gravitational settling parameter affect the degree of uniformity achieved during jet mixer pump operation in the full-scale double-shell tanks; develop linear models to predict the degree of uniformity achieved by jet mixer pumps operating in the full-scale double-shell tanks; apply linear models to predict the degree of uniformity that will be achieved in tank 241-AZ-101 and determine whether contents of that tank will be uniform to within (+-) 10% of the mean concentration; and obtain experimental concentration and jet velocity data to compared with the TEMPEST computational and modeling predictions to guide further code development.