Task 20 - Prevention of Chloride Corrosion in High-Temperature Waste Treatment Systems (Corrosives Removals from Vitrification Slurries)

GTS Duratek is working with BNFL Incorporated on a US Department of Energy (DOE) contract to develop a facility to treat and immobilize radioactive waste at the Hanford site in southeast Washington. Development of the 10-ton/day Hanford facility will be based on findings from work at Duratek's 3.3-ton/day pilot plant in Columbia, Maryland, which is in the final stage of construction and scheduled for shakedown testing in early 1999. In prior work with the Catholic University of America Vitreous State Laboratory, Duratek has found that slurrying is the most efficient way to introduce low-level radioactive, hazardous, and mixed wastes into vitrification melters. However, many of the Hanford tank wastes to be vitrified contain species (primarily chloride and sulfate) that are corrosive to the vitrifier or the downstream air pollution control equipment, especially under the elevated temperature conditions existent in these components. Removal of these corrosives presents a significant challenge because most tank wastes contain high (up to 10-molar) concentrations of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) along with significant levels of nitrate, nitrite, and other anions, which render standard ion-exchange, membrane filtration, and other separation technologies relatively ineffective. In Task 20, the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) will work with Duratek to develop and optimize a vitrification pretreatment process for consistent, quantitative removal of chloride and sulfate prior to vitrifier injection.