No abstract available

[en] The Cesium Removal Demonstration (CRD) project will use liquid low-level waste (LLLW) stored in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Melton Valley Storage Tanks to demonstrate cesium removal from sodium nitrate-based supernates. This report presents the results of a conceptual design study to scope the alternatives for conducting the demonstration at ORNL. Factors considered included (1) sorbent alternatives, (2) facility alternatives, (3) process alternatives, (4) process disposal alternatives, and (5) relative cost comparisons. Recommendations included (1) that design of the CRD system move forward based on information obtained to date from tests with Savannah River Resin, (2) that the CRD system be designed so it could use crystalline silicotitanates (CST) if an engineered form of CST becomes available prior to the CRD, (3) that the system be designed without the capability for resin regeneration, (4) that the LLLW solidification facility be used for the demonstration (5) that vitrification of the loaded resins from the CRD be demonstrated at the Savannah River Site, and (6) that permanent disposal of the loaded and/or vitrified resin at the Nevada Test Site be pursued

[en] Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) conducted a pilot-plant program in support of the fluidized-bed biodenitrification system currently under construction by Westinghouse, Inc., at the Feed Materials Production Center (FMPC) in Fernald, Ohio. Two 0.1-m-diam bioreactors in series, each with ∼6.1 m of active bed height, and a single 12.2-m-high, 0.1-m-diam fluidized-bed bioreactor were operated to simulate the larger bioreactors (four 1.2-m-diam bioreactors each with 12.2 m of active bed height to be operated in series) under construction at Fernald. These pilot systems were used to verify the Fernald design as well as to identify and attempt to solve any problems that might affect the full-scale system. Results of studies with FMPC wastewater having nitrate levels as high as 10 g/L indicate that the Fernald bioreactors probably cannot operate on untreated wastewater because of its high calcium concentration. When the pilot-plant system was tested with raw wastewater having calcium concentrations ranging from 100 to 450 mg/L, the bioreactors ceased to function within 5 weeks after startup due to the buildup of calcium carbonate on the bioparticles. However, Fernald wastewater has been softened at ORNL and successfully biodenitrified. The results obtained to date indicate that the biodenitrification rate used in the design of the Fernald bioreactors, 32 kg (NO₃-N)/d x m³, may be achieved or exceeded; however, pH adjustment within the bioreactors may be necessary. The temperature rise may be as high as 4⁰C in each bioreactor due to the exothermic nature of the biodenitrification reaction. Under limiting adiabatic conditions, the overall temperature rise through four columns could be 15 to 20⁰C. Thus, some kind of temperature control will probably be necessary to achieve optimal performance. 12 refs., 21 figs., 6 tabs

[en] The Feed Materials Production Center (FMPC), a US Department of Energy facility at Fernald, Ohio, is constructing a fluidized-bed biodenitrification plant based on pilot work conducted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This plant is designed to treat approximately 600 to 800 L/min of wastewater having a nitrate concentration as high as 10 g/L. The effluent is to contain less than 0.1 g/L of nitrate. Since this new facility is an extrapolation of the ORNL work to significantly larger scale equipment and to actual rather than synthetic wastewater, design verification studies have been performed to reduce uncertainties in the scaleup. The results of these studies are summarized in this report. 7 refs., 1 fig

[en] There are a number of nitrate-containing wastewater sources, as concentrated as 30 wt % NO₃^- and as large as 2000 m³/d, in the nuclear fuel cycle as well as in many commercial processes such as fertilizer production, paper manufacturing, and metal finishing. These nitrate-containing wastewater sources can be successfully biologically denitrified to meet discharge standards in the range of 10 to 20 gN(NO₃^-)/m³ by the use of a fluidized-bed bioreactor. The major strain of denitrification bacteria is Pseudomonas which was derived from garden soil. In the fluidized-bed bioreactor the bacteria are allowed to attach to 0.25 to 0.50-mm-diam coal particles, which are fluidized by the upward flow of influent wastewater. Maintaining the bacteria-to-coal weight ratio at approximately 1:10 results in a bioreactor bacteria loading of greater than 20,000 g/m³. A description is given of the results of two biodenitrification R and D pilot plant programs based on the use of fluidized bioreactors capable of operating at nitrate levels up to 7000 g/m³ and achieving denitrification rates as high as 80 gN(NO₃^-)/d per liter of empty bioreactor volume. The first of these pilot plant programs consisted of two 0.2-m-diam bioreactors, each with a height of 6.3 m and a volume of 208 liters, operating in series. The second pilot plant was used to determine the diameter dependence of the reactors by using a 0.5-m-diam reactor with a height of 6.3 m and a volume of 1200 liters. These pilot plants operated for a period of six months and two months respectively, while using both a synthetic waste and the actual waste from a gaseous diffusion plant operated by Goodyear Atomic Corporation

[en] This report provides details of the Cesium Removal Demonstration (CsRD), which was conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) on radioactive waste from the Melton Valley Storage Tanks. The CsRD was the first large-scale use of state-of-the-art sorbents being developed by private industry for the selective removal of cesium and other radionuclides from liquid wastes stored across the DOE complex. The crystalline silicotitanate sorbent used in the demonstration was chosen because of its effectiveness in laboratory tests using bench-scale columns. The demonstration showed that the cesium could be removed from the supernate and concentrated on a small-volume, solid waste form that would meet the waste acceptance criteria for the Nevada Test Site. During this project, the CsRD system processed > 115,000 L (30,000 gal) of radioactive supernate with minimal operational problems. Sluicing, drying, and remote transportation of the sorbent, which could not be done on a bench scale, were successfully demonstrated. The system was then decontaminated to the extent that it could be contact maintained with the use of localized shielding only. By utilizing a modular, transportable design and placement within existing facilities, the system can be transferred to different sites for reuse. The initial unit has now been removed from the process building and is presently being reinstalled for use in baseline operations at ORNL

[en] Cesium and strontium radionuclides are a small fraction of the mainly sodium and potassium salts in underground storage tank supernatant at US Department of Energy (DOE) sites at Hanford, Oak Ridge, Savannah River, and Idaho that DOE must remediate. Cesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs) is the primary gamma radiation source in the dissolved tank waste at these sites, and its removal from the supernatant can reduce the hazard and waste classification of the treated waste reducing the further treatment and disposal costs. Several cesium removal sorbents have been developed by private industry and the US DOE's Office of Science and Technology. Several of these removal technologies have been previously tested in small batch and column tests using simulated and a few actual supernatant under DOE's Environmental Management (EM) programs including the Tanks Focus Area (TFA) and the Efficient Separations and Processing (ESP) Cross-Cutting Program

[en] A process for the conversion of alkaline, aqueous nitrate wastes to ammonia gas at low temperature, based upon the use of the active metal reductant aluminum, has been developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The process is also well suited for the removal of low-level waste (LLW) radioelements and hazardous metals which report to the solid, alumina-based by-product. ne chemistry of the interaction of aluminum powders with nitrate, and other waste stream metals is presented

[en] An environmental project was conducted to evaluate in situ bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated soils on Kwajalein Island, a US Army Kwajalein Atoll base in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Results of laboratory column studies determined that nutrient loadings stimulated biodegradation rates and that bioremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils at Kwajalein was possible using indigenous microbes. The column studies were followed by an ∼10-month on-site demonstration at Kwajalein to further evaluate in situ bioremediation and to determine design and operating conditions necessary to optimize the process. The demonstration site contained low levels of total petroleum hydrocarbons (diesel fuel) in the soil near the ground surface, with concentrations increasing to ∼10,000 mg/kg in the soil near the groundwater. The demonstration utilized 12 in situ plots to evaluate the effects of various combinations of water, air, and nutrient additions on both the microbial population and the hydrocarbon concentration within the treatment plots as a function of depth from the ground surface

No abstract available