Weapons Complex Vol. 27 No. 1
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Weapons Complex Monitor
Article 6 of 15
January 08, 2016

At Savannah River

By Chris Schneidmiller

WC Monitor
1/8/2016

Progress Reported at SRS Defense Waste Processing Facility

The Savannah River Site’s Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) is quickly approaching the halfway mark in its lifetime of producing canisters filled with radioactive glass, according to SRS liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation. Last week, the DWPF poured its 4,000th canister two months before the facility celebrates its 20th anniversary. Highly radioactive liquid waste from the SRS waste storage tanks is sent to the facility where it undergoes a vitrification process that converts the waste into a glassy form suitable for interim storage on-site until a long-term repository opens.

Through its 40-year lifetime, the DWPF is expected to produce about 7,800 canisters. The canisters are 10 feet tall and 2 feet wide. The vitrified waste inside the canisters will eventually total more than 30 million gallons of material that has been or currently is stored in more than 40 tanks at SRS. The waste has about 253 million curies of radioactivity. To date, the DWPF is responsible for 15 million gallons of vitrified waste, which has immobilized 58 million curies. "Turning waste into glass continues to provide significant risk reduction for South Carolina," Jim Folk, DOE-Savannah River assistant manager for waste disposition, said in a press release.

There are two types of liquid waste in the SRS storage tanks: a sludge form and a salt form. The generated at SRS as byproducts from the processing of nuclear materials for national defense, research, and medical programs, according to the site’s website. The DWPF is designed to treat the both forms, but does receive help with the salt form through the use of the Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit and the Actinide Removal Process. The facilities serve as a pilot program that has far exceeded expectations while the site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) is being constructed. The facility has been plagued with cost overruns and delays including a September 2014 announcement that construction will cost $2.3 billion – a significant increase from the original $1.32 billion estimate.

Despite past issues, reports late last year said the facility may beat its 2018 deadline to begin operations, although no specific projections have been reported. The newly installed centrifugal contactors – devices that concentrate the radioactive cesium in the liquid waste streams – will reduce the volume of waste sent to the DWPF, according to the Department of Energy. The SWPF is about 90 percent complete and is expected to be completed by May 2016 and operating by the end of 2018. The facility will eventually process 31 million gallons of radioactive salt waste that will then be sent to DWPF for vitrification. Salt waste accounts for about 90 percent of the liquid waste at SRS.

 

S.C. Universities to Assist DOE Environmental Management Efforts

A new panel of experts is being formed to establish a strategy for the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNS) to create technologies for remediation of waste left by U.S. nuclear operations.

Clemson University inked an agreement with the Department of Energy lab this week to establish, manage, and offer administrative assistance to the external review committee of scientists from Clemson, the University of South Carolina, and other entities, according to a Savannah River Site press release issued Wednesday. The panel’s mission will be to help direct the lab’s research, “development and deployment of technologies to clean up the environmental legacy of the nation’s nuclear programs,” the committee charter states.

“As a land-grant university, Clemson is working toward a lot of the same goals as the Savannah River National Laboratory — to make South Carolina and our nation stronger, and to protect the environment for future generations,” Clemson University President James P. Clements said in the release.

Clemson and USC will both sign off on review committee participants. Clemson’s responsibilities will include recruiting scientists for the panel, offering administrative assistance, facilitating meetings, and publishing a yearly report on the committee’s activities.

“One of our most important initial objectives is to begin recruiting some of the best scientists in the area of nuclear engineering and environmental management. With the right team in place, we will start working to create a strategy that brings the best of the SRNL to bear on critical scientific issues facing the country,” Larry Dooley, Clemson interim vice president for research, said in the release. 

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NEW: Via public records request, I’ve been able to confirm reporting today that a warrant has been issued for DOE deputy asst. secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition Sam Brinton for another luggage theft, this time at Las Vegas’s Harry Reid airport. (cc: @EMPublications)

DOE spent fuel lead Brinton accused of second luggage theft.



by @BenjaminSWeiss, confirming today's reports with warrant from Las Vegas Metro PD.

Waste has been Emplaced! 🚮

We have finally begun emplacing defense-related transuranic (TRU) waste in Panel 8 of #WIPP.

Read more about the waste emplacement here: https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20221123-2.asp

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