Waste systems. Progress report, January 1982-February 1983

A laboratory-scale beryllium electrorefining cell has been placed in operation and metallic beryllium with a purity greater than 99.95% has been produced. Methods of uranium chip disposal have been evaluated by performing bench- and pilot-scale testing and by surveying present chip disposal methods. A design criteria has been completed for a new production uranium chip disposal facility. Two types of cementation immobilization processes are being developed to treat several Rocky Flats wastes which do not currently meet repository acceptance criteria. The nitrate salts, as now shipped, are an extremely fine powder, composed chiefly of sodium and potassium nitrate. Nitrates are an oxidizer, and their behavior in a possible fire would be of concern. Accident caused fires involving a cargo of boxed nitrate salts were modeled and the burning characteristics noted. In addition, gypsum cement was tested as an immobilization matrix to reduce dispersibility. A program is in process to construct a facility to remotely size reduce gloveboxes and miscellaneous equipment contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive nuclides. The Title II engineering package is completed and the construction of the facility has been initiated. Modification and additions to the 82 kg/h Fluidized Bed Incinerator were made in preparation for turning the unit over to Production. A program was initiated to identify, characterize, and evaluate for recycle all the spent oil and solvent streams which are immobilized and disposed as Transuranic (TRU) waste. Three technologies were evaluted for denitrification method was studied at Rocky Flats while a thermal decomposition process and a molten salt chemical conversion technique were investigated on a subcontract basis with Thagard Research Corporation and Rockwell International, Energy Systems Group, respectively