Measurements of Mercury Released From Solidified/Stabilized Waste Forms-FY2002

Mattus, C.H.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

关键词: Low-Level Radioactive Wastes;    Sludges;    Combustion;    Testing;    Us Epa;   

DOI  :  10.2172/814215
RP-ID  :  ORNL/TM-2002/283
RP-ID  :  AC05-00OR22725
RP-ID  :  814215

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

This report covers work performed during FY 2002 in support of treatment demonstrations conducted for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Mixed Waste Focus Area (MWFA) Mercury Working Group. To comply with the requirements of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), DOE must use one of the following procedures for mixed low-level radioactive wastes containing mercury at levels above 260 ppm: a retorting/roasting treatment or (if the wastes also contain organics) an incineration treatment. The recovered radioactively contaminated mercury must then be treated by an amalgamation process prior to disposal. The DOE MWFA Mercury Working Group is working with EPA to determine whether some alternative processes could be used to treat these types of waste directly, thereby avoiding a costly recovery step for DOE. In previous years, demonstrations were performed in which commercial vendors applied their technologies for the treatment of radiologically contaminated elemental mercury as well as radiologically contaminated and mercury-contaminated waste soils from Brookhaven National Laboratory. The test results for mercury release in the headspace were reported in two reports, ''Measurements of Mercury Released from Amalgams and Sulfide Compounds'' (ORNL/TM-13728) and ''Measurements of Mercury Released from Solidified/Stabilized Waste Forms'' (ORNL/TM-2001/17). The current work did not use a real waste; a surrogate sludge had been prepared and used in the testing in an effort to understand the consequences of mercury speciation on mercury release.