Results of the 2h Evaporator Acid Cleaning and in-Pot Neutralization

The estimated 200 gallons of sodium aluminosilicate scale (NAS) present in the 242-16H Evaporator pot prior to chemical cleaning was subjected to four batches of 1.5 M (9 wt%) nitric acid. Each batch was neutralized with 19 M (50 wt %) sodium hydroxide (caustic) before transfer to Tank 38. The chemical cleaning process began on November 20, 2006, and was terminated on December 10, 2006. An inspection of the pot's interior was performed and based on data gathered during that inspection; the current volume of scale in the pot is conservatively estimated to be 36.3 gallons, which is well below the 200 gallon limit specified in the Technical Safety Requirements. In addition, the performance during all aspects of cleaning agreed well with the flowsheet developed at the bench and pilot scale. There were some lessons learned during the cleaning outage and are detailed in appendices of this report

Studies of Potential Inhibitors of Sodium Aluminosilicate Scales in High-Level Waste Evaporation

The Savannah River Site (SRS) has 49 underground storage tanks used to store High Level Waste (HLW). The tank space in these tanks must be managed to support the continued operation of key facilities. The reduction of the tank volumes in these tanks are accomplished through the use of three atmospheric pressure HLW evaporators. For a decade, evaporation of highly alkaline HLW containing aluminum and silicates has produced sodium aluminosilicate scales causing both operation and criticality hazards in the 2H Evaporator System. Segregation of aluminum-rich wastes from silicate-rich wastes minimizes the amount of scale produced and reduces cleaning expenses, but does not eliminate the scaling nor increases operation flexibility in waste process. Similar issues have affected the aluminum refining industry for many decades. Over the past several years, successful commercial products have been identified to eliminate aluminosilicate fouling in the aluminum industry, but have not been utilized in a nuclear environment. Laboratory quantities of three proprietary aluminosilicate scale inhibitors have been produced and been shown to prevent formation of scales. SRNL has been actively testing these potential inhibitors to examine their radiation stability, radiolytic degradation behaviors, and downstream impacts to determine their viability within the HLW system. One of the tested polymers successfully meets the established criteria for application in the nuclear environment. This paper will describe a summary of the methodology used to prioritize laboratory testing protocols based on potential impacts/risks identified for inhibitor deployment at SRS

Hanford Supplemental Treatment: Literature and Modeling Review of SRS HLW Salt Dissolution and Fractional Crystallization

In order to accelerate waste treatment and disposal of Hanford tank waste by 2028, the Department of Energy (DOE) and CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CHG), Inc. are evaluating alternative technologies which will be used in conjunction with the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) to safely pretreat and immobilize the tank waste. Several technologies (Bulk Vitrification and Steam Reforming) are currently being evaluated for immobilizing the pretreated waste. Since the WTP does not have sufficient capacity to pretreat all the waste going to supplemental treatment by the 2028 milestone, two technologies (Selective Dissolution and Fractional Crystallization) are being considered for pretreatment of salt waste. The scope of this task was to: (1) evaluate the recent Savannah River Site (SRS) Tank 41 dissolution campaign and other literature to provide a more complete understanding of selective dissolution, (2) provide an update on the progress of salt dissolution and modeling activities at SRS, (3) investigate SRS experience and outside literature sources on industrial equipment and experimental results of previous fractional crystallization processes, and (4) evaluate recent Hanford AP104 boildown experiments and modeling results and recommend enhancements to the Environmental Simulation Program (ESP) to improve its predictive capabilities. This report provides a summary of this work and suggested recommendations

PPARγ population shift produces disease-related changes in molecular networks associated with metabolic syndrome

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) is a key regulator of adipocyte differentiation and has an important role in metabolic syndrome. Phosphorylation of the receptor's ligand-binding domain at serine 273 has been shown to change the expression of a large number of genes implicated in obesity. The difference in gene expression seen when comparing wild-type phosphorylated with mutant non-phosphorylated PPARγ may have important consequences for the cellular molecular network, the state of which can be shifted from the healthy to a stable diseased state. We found that a group of differentially expressed genes are involved in bi-stable switches and form a core network, the state of which changes with disease progression. These findings support the idea that bi-stable switches may be a mechanism for locking the core gene network into a diseased state and for efficiently propagating perturbations to more distant regions of the network. A structural analysis of the PPARγ–RXRα dimer complex supports the hypothesis of a major structural change between the two states, and this may represent an important mechanism leading to the differential expression observed in the core network

Scientific Opportunities to Reduce Risk in Nuclear Process Science

Cleaning up the nation’s nuclear weapons complex remains as one of the most technologically challenging and financially costly problems facing the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Safety, cost, and technological challenges have often delayed progress in retrieval, processing, and final disposition of high-level waste, spent nuclear fuel, and challenging materials. Some of the issues result from the difficulty and complexity of the technological issues; others have programmatic bases, such as contracting strategies that may provide undue focus on near-term, specific clean-up goals or difficulty in developing and maintaining stakeholder confidence in the proposed solutions. We propose that independent basic fundamental science research focused on the full cleanup life-cycle offers an opportunity to help address these challenges by providing 1) scientific insight into the fundamental mechanisms involved in currently selected processing and disposal options, 2) a rational path to the development of alternative technologies should the primary options fail, 3) confidence that models that predict long-term performance of different disposal options are based upon the best available science, 4) fundamental science discovery that enables transformational solutions to revolutionize the current baseline processes

Tryptophan and Non-Tryptophan Fluorescence of the Eye Lens Proteins Provides Diagnostics of Cataract at the Molecular Level

The chemical nature of the non-tryptophan (non-Trp) fluorescence of porcine and human eye lens proteins was identified by Mass Spectrometry (MS) and Fluorescence Steady-State and Lifetime spectroscopy as post-translational modifications (PTM) of Trp and Arg amino acid residues. Fluorescence intensity profiles measured along the optical axis of human eye lenses with age-related nuclear cataract showed increasing concentration of fluorescent PTM towards the lens centre in accord with the increased optical density in the lens nucleolus. Significant differences between fluorescence lifetimes of “free” Trp derivatives hydroxytryptophan (OH-Trp), N-formylkynurenine (NFK), kynurenine (Kyn), hydroxykynurenine (OH-Kyn) and their residues were observed. Notably, the lifetime constants of these residues in a model peptide were considerably greater than those of their “free” counterparts. Fluorescence of Trp, its derivatives and argpyrimidine (ArgP) can be excited at the red edge of the Trp absorption band which allows normalisation of the emission spectra of these PTMs to the fluorescence intensity of Trp, to determine semi-quantitatively their concentration. We show that the cumulative fraction of OH-Trp, NFK and ArgP emission dominates the total fluorescence spectrum in both emulsified post-surgical human cataract protein samples, as well as in whole lenses and that this correlates strongly with cataract grade and age