Processing mixed-waste compressed-gas cylinders at the Oak Ridge Reservation

Until recently, several thousand kilograms of compressed gases were stored at the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, because these cylinders could not be taken off-site in their state of configuration for disposal. Restrictions on the storage of old compressed-gas cylinders compelled the Waste Management Organization of Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. (LMES) to dispose of these materials. Furthermore, a milestone in the ORR Site Treatment Plan required repackaging and shipment off-site of 21 cylinders by September 30, 1997. A pilot project, coordinated by the Chemical Technology Division (CTD) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), was undertaken to evaluate and recontainerize or neutralize these cylinders, which are mixed waste, to meet that milestone. Because the radiological component was considered to be confined to the exterior of the cylinder, the contents (once removed from the cylinder) could be handled as hazardous waste, and the cylinder could be handled as low-level waste (LLW). This pilot project to process 21 cylinders was important because of its potential impact. The successful completion of the project provides a newly demonstrated technology which can now be used to process the thousands of additional cylinders in inventory across the DOE complex. In this paper, many of the various aspects of implementing this project, including hurdles encountered and the lessons learned in overcoming them, are reported