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The Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant (HWVP) is being designed for the Department of Energy to immobilize pretreated radioactive high-level waste and transuranic waste as glass for permanent disposal. Laboratory studies were conducted to characterize HWVP slurry chemistry during selected processing steps, using pretreated Neutralized Current Acid Waste (NCAW) simulant. Laboratory tests were designed to provide bases for determining the potential for hazardous gas generation, making chemical adjustments for glass redox control, and assessing the potential for rapid exothermic reactions of dried NCAW slurry. Offgas generation rates and the total moles of gas released as a function of selected pretreated NCAW components and process variables were measured. An emphasis was placed on identifying conditions that initiate significant H{sub 2} generation. Glass redox measurements, using Fe{sup +2}/{Sigma}Fe as an indicator of the glass oxidation state, were made to develop guidelines for HCOOH addition. Thermal analyses of dried NCAW simulant were conducted to assess the potential of a rapid uncontrollable exothermic reaction in the chemical processing cell tanks. |
