The Energy Department said Monday it wants industry input on optimizing the design and construction of concrete containers for storing low-level waste in saltstone form at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
Design ideas about the concrete containers known as Saltstone Disposal Units (SDU) are due on Feb. 19, DOE said in a request for information. Interested vendors can plumb the agency’s thinking prior to responding in an industry day scheduled for Jan. 27 at the New Ellenton Community Center in New Ellenton, S.C.
An SDU is a cylindrical, concrete tank that stores "low-activity waste grout produced from the solidification of decontaminated, non-hazardous salt waste," according to the request for information. DOE’s latest SDU design, called SDU-6, holds roughly 30 million gallons — 10 times more than other designs, the agency said.
DOE wants to optimize SDU design and construction so liquid waste processing at SRS is not interrupted — the agency said the Savannah River Site will produce about 15 million gallons of salt waste a year, for a total of about 200 million gallons by the middle of the fiscal 2020.
The needed SDUs must be operational "well before" 2020, DOE said in the request for information. The units will be installed at Savannah River’s Z-Area Saltstone Facility, DOE said.
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