The High Level Waste (HLW) Salt Disposition Systems Engineering Team (henceforth referred to as Team) was formed on March 13, 1998, under the sponsorship of the Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC) High Level Waste Vice President and General Manager. The Team is chartered to identify options, evaluate alternatives and recommend a selected alternative(s) for processing HLW salt to a permitted waste form. This requirement arises because the existing In-Tank Precipitation (ITP) process, as currently configured, cannot simultaneously meet the HLW production and Authorization Basis safety requirements. During Phase I (Identification Phase) the Team used multiple approaches to identify alternative processes to meet the production and safety requirements for salt disposition. The resulting list of approximately 140 alternatives was evaluated against a set of minimum screening criteria. The outcome of the exercise was an 'initial list' of eighteen alternatives selected for further evaluation, which were grouped in categories including: Crystallization, Electrochemical Separation, Ion Exchange, Precipitation, Solvent Extraction and Vitrification. During Phase II (Investigation Phase), the Team focused on the application of screening criteria for performance of a preliminary technical and programmatic risk assessment of the eighteen alternatives to establish a short list for detailed evaluation. The engineering scope in Phase III was to evaluate the Short List alternatives in a greater level of detail to support life cycle and schedule assessment efforts. The engineering scope in Phase IV (Decision Phase) focused on the technical uncertainties for the remaining primary and backup alternatives in a greater level of detail to support the recommendation of the most technically suited alternative. This document provides the technical bases, assumptions and results of these continuing engineering efforts.
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