Functions and requirements for a waste dislodging and conveyance system for the gunite and associated tanks treatability study at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Since the mid 1940s, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Energy (DOE) have conducted research and development activities at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in support of urgent national interests in the fields of nuclear weaponry and nuclear energy. Some of these activities resulted in radiologically hazardous waste being temporarily deposited at ORNL, Waste Area Grouping 1. At this location, waste is stored in several underground storage tanks, awaiting ultimate final disposal. There are tanks of two basic categories. One category is referred to as the gunite tanks, the other category is associated tanks. The ORNL Gunite and Associated Tanks Treatability Study (GAAT TS) project was initiated in FY 1994 to support a record of decision in selecting from seven different options of technologies for retrieval and remediation of these tanks. As part of this decision process, new waste retrieval technologies will be evaluated at the 25-foot diameter gunite tanks in the North tank farm. Work is currently being conducted at Hanford and the University of Missouri-Rolla to evaluate and develop some technologies having high probability of being most practical and effective for the dislodging and conveying of waste from underground storage tanks. The findings of these efforts indicate that a system comprised of a dislodging end effector employing jets of high-pressure fluids, coupled to a water-jet conveyance system, all carried above the waste by a mechanical arm or other mechanism, is a viable retrieval technology for the GAAT TS tasks.