Calculation of reaction energies and adiabatic temperatures for waste tank reactions

Continual concern has been expressed over potentially hazardous exothermic reactions that might occur in Hanford Site underground waste storage tanks. These tanks contain many different oxidizable compounds covering a wide range of concentrations. The chemical hazards are a function of several interrelated factors, including the amount of energy (heat) produced, how fast it is produced, and the thermal absorption and heat transfer properties of the system. The reaction path(s) will determine the amount of energy produced and kinetics will determine the rate that it is produced. The tanks also contain many inorganic compounds inert to oxidation. These compounds act as diluents and can inhibit exothermic reactions because of their heat capacity and thus, in contrast to the oxidizable compounds, provide mitigation of hazardous reactions. In this report the energy that may be released when various organic and inorganic compounds react is computed as a function of the reaction-mix composition and the temperature. The enthalpy, or integrated heat capacity, of these compounds and various reaction products is presented as a function of temperature; the enthalpy of a given mixture can then be equated to the energy release from various reactions to predict the maximum temperature which may be reached. This is estimated for several different compositions. Alternatively, the amounts of various diluents required to prevent the temperature from reaching a critical value can be estimated. Reactions taking different paths, forming different products such as N{sub 2}O in place of N{sub 2} are also considered, as are reactions where an excess of caustic is present. Oxidants other than nitrate and nitrite are considered briefly