Salt waste processing at the Savannah River Site is expected to increase now that one of the Department of Energy facility’s new salt solution receipt tanks (SSRT) has begun receiving waste. Earlier this month, liquid waste contractor Savannah River Remediation (SRR) began transferring decontaminated salt solution (DSS) to the tank, which can hold up to 60,000 gallons of the substance. The solution has historically been transferred to Tank 50, which has always been designated to store the material until it is ready for final disposal. Tank 50 will still be used alongside the receipt tanks.
SRR was asked about the cost and time it took to develop the tanks, but did not respond by press time.
The SSRT that is not being used tank will be put to work once the site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) starts up in late 2018. In June, the South Carolina facility celebrated completion of construction of SWPF. Once operable, the facility will separate the highly radioactive cesium and actinides from the salt solution held in the waste storage tanks. About 90 percent of the 36 million gallons of the Cold War-era waste in the tanks is salt waste.
While waiting for SWPF to be completed, the Savannah River Site has been using an Actinide Removal Process (ARP)/Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU), which accomplishes the same operation on a smaller scale. The salt waste is sent to the ARP/MCU, which converts the waste to a decontaminated salt solution. From there, the solution will go to the SSRT for storage until it is retrieved and turned into a grout mixture and permanently disposed of in the on-site Saltstone Disposal Units. “These receipt tanks are unique and will provide us capacity to handle a higher flow of DSS,” SRS Manager Jack Craig stated in a press release. Once SWPF begins operating and partners with the SSRTs, the flow capacity of the salt solution is expected to jump from 1.5 million gallons a year to about 6 million.
SWPF will accompany the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF), which converts the liquid waste into a glass form that allows for safe storage on-site until a federal repository is made available.
