Comparison of three methods for determining the amount of nitric acid needed to treat HLW sludge at SRS

摘要

A comparison was made of three methods for determining the amount of nitric acid which will be needed to treat a sample of high-level waste (HLW) sludge from the Savannah River Site (SRS) Tank Farm. The treatment must ensure the resulting melter feed will have the necessary rheological and oxidation-reduction properties, reduce mercury and manganese in the sludge, and be performed in a fashion which does not produce a flammable gas mixture. The three methods examined where an empirical method based on pH measurements, a computational method based on known reactions of the species in the sludge and a titration based on neutralization of carbonate in the solution.