The Defense Waste Processing Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has entered an outage this month as it prepares to switch over from formic acid to glycolic acid by October.
Going with glycolic acid at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) should lead to more efficient conversion of radioactive waste into glass, the DOE Office of Environmental Management said in a recent press release.
The DWPF use of formic acid generates hydrogen and produces ammonia as the acid reacts at elevated temperatures, DOE said, adding that glycolic acid should reduce off-gas hazards.
The changeover should also enable the new Salt Waste Processing Facility to run at high production rates since DWPF will be able to treat greater quantities of waste, DOE went on to say.
The DOE describes DWPF as the only operating radioactive waste glassification plant in the nation, which should change by the end of 2023 with the planned low-level waste operation of the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
Contractor Savannah River Mission Completion operates both the DWPF and the SWPF for DOE at Savannah River.
