Vitrification and Privatization Success

The Westinghouse Savannah River Co. (WSRC) recently completed the most successful privatization of treatment of hazardous/radioactive (mixed) waste at a Department of Energy (DOE) facility. WSRC contracted a private subcontractor, GTS Duratek, Columbia, MD to vitrify approximately 670,000 gallons of mixed waste. The subcontract was a fixed unit price contract, awarded in 1993, with a total value of $13.9 million. The majority of waste was a nickel plating line sludge with depleted uranium. Other mixed waste streams included a slightly enriched (1.1 percent U-235) F-006 filtercake, a fully enriched uranium laboratory solution (D-007), and contaminated soils. One waste stream successfully treated was a soil with tritium and low concentrations of dioxins (F-027, D-016, and D-017).