Handling and Segregating System for 55-Gallon Drums Project-Current Progress on Testing and Integration at the Western Environmental Technology Office

The Savannah River Site (SRS) along with other U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites have thousands of drums of mixed transuranic (TRU) waste that are being stored awaiting transfer to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The SRS drums contain noncompliant items that must meet WIPP waste acceptance criteria (WAC) before being accepted. A system is being developed by the DOE Transuranic and Mixed Waste Focus Area (TMFA) under the Robotics Crosscut Program to repackage drummed, mixed TRU waste to meet WIPP WAC. This system, the Handling and Segregating System for 55-gallon drums (HANDSS-55), will economically and remotely open, sort, and segregate noncompliant components of the waste inside the drums and repackage the compliant components in a new drum suitable for shipment and acceptance by WIPP in New Mexico. HANDSS-55 is scheduled to be deployed for operation at the SRS Solid Waste Division by September 30, 2004. Other versions of HANDSS-55 may later be deployed at other DOE sites. MSE Technology Applications, Inc. (MSE) was selected to integrate and demonstrate the HANDSS-55 modules being developed by the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) and the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC). This paper reports progress on integration and testing to date

DRUM-SCALE TESTS OF IN-SITU THERMAL DESORPTION TREATMENT OF INEEL BURIED WASTES

ABSTRACT The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is investigating in-situ thermal desorption (ISTD) as a treatment for TRUcontaminated buried waste at the Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Laboratory (INEEL) sub-surface disposal area (SDA). The SDA contains Rocky Flats Plant (RFP) wastes, including drums of potassium nitrate/sodium nitrate salts, drums of volatile organic chlorides in mineral oil adsorbed on calcium silicate-based adsorbents, and drums of combustible debris. ISTD treatment envisioned for these wastes will place relatively low power rod heaters, rated at about 300 watts per foot of rod length, in a grid pattern throughout the SDA treatment area. The rod heaters will be enclosed in a perforated six-inch diameter steel casing. Each of these heater assemblies will be sealed at the treatment area surface, so that a slight vacuum applied at the head of individual heater assemblies will draw desorbed or thermally decomposed waste constituents, and soil air and moisture, through the heater assembly into an offgas treatment system. In calendar year (CY) 2003, MSE-TA completed one drum-scale shakedown test and three drum-scale waste treatment tests. The waste treatment tests used surrogates for organic sludge, nitrate salts, and a mixture or organic sludge and combustible debris. The organic-sludge surrogate contained a mixture of cutting oil, halogenated solvents, and inorganic adsorbents. The nitrate-salt surrogate consisted primarily of sodium and potassium nitrate. The combustible-debris surrogate was a mixture of cotton rags, paper, and plastic beads. A mixture of water and soil, formulated to simulate the heat of vaporization of the organic-sludge halogenated solvents, was used for the shakedown test. Heat-up rates for the organic, nitrate, and combustible debris surrogates were compared to the heatup rate for the non-combustible shakedown feed. Faster heating rates were noted for the organic sludge and combustible debris surrogates, and were assumed to be due to combustion of the surrogate waste material. Air flow and electrical power to the heater assembly were found to limit the rate of combustion. For the organic-sludge surrogate, the constituent halogenated solvents were not detectable in the offgas, as long as electrical power was applied to the heater assembly. When the heater electrical power was turned off, constituent halogenated solvents and products of incomplete combustion were found in the offgas, even though the core of the drum continued to self-heat from combustion. The organic-sludge/combustible-debris mixture self-heated at a greater rate than did the organic sludge alone. Data from the offgas analyses for this test were not available for inclusion in this paper. Heat up for the nitrate salt surrogate was slower than for the other tests, including the water/soil shakedown test. The nitrate-salt surrogate partially melted and foamed, nearly plugging the drum outlet line, after ~65 hours of heating