Immobilization of Radionuclides in the Hanford Vadose Zone by Incorporation in Solid Phases

Gordon E. Brown, Jr. ; Catalano, Jeffrey G. ; Warner, Jeffrey A. ; Shaw, Samual ; Grolimund, Daniel

Stanford University (United States)

关键词: Corrosion;    Aluminium;    Storage;    Sodium;    36 Materials Science;   

DOI  :  10.2172/836578
RP-ID  :  DOE/ER/15022
RP-ID  :  FG07-99ER15022
RP-ID  :  836578

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

The Department of Energy's Hanford Nuclear Site located in Washington State has accumulated over 2 million curies of radioactive waste from activities related to the production of plutonium (Ahearne, 1997). Sixty-seven of the single-shelled tanks located at the site are thought to have leaked, allowing between 2 and 4 million liters of waste fluids into the underlying vadose zone. The chemical processes employed at the Hanford Site to extract plutonium, as well as the need to minimize corrosion of the high-carbon steel storage tanks, resulted in uncharacterized hyperalkaline waste streams rich in radionuclides as well as other species including significant amounts of sodium and aluminum.