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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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Page i

Research and Development on
a Salt Processing Alternative
for High-level Waste
at the Savannah River Site

Committee on Radionuclide Separation Processes for High-level Waste at the Savannah River Site
Board on Radioactive Waste Management
Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology
Division on Earth and Life Studies
National Research Council


NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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Page ii

    NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competence and with regard for appropriate balance.

    Support for this study was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, under Grant No. DE-FC01-99EW59049. All opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Energy.

    International Standard Book Number: 0-309-07593-9

    Additional copies of this report are available from:

    National Academy Press 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Box 285 Washington, DC 20055 800-624-6242 202-334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area) http://www.nas.edu

    Copyright 2001 by the National Academy of Sciences . All rights reserved.

    Printed in the United States of America .

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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Page iii

    THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

    Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

    National Academy of Sciences

    National Academy of Engineering

    Institute of Medicine

    National Research Council

    The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

    The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

    The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.

    The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and of advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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Page iv

    COMMITTEE ON RADIONUCLIDE SEPARATION PROCESSES FOR HIGH-LEVEL WASTE AT THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE

    MILTON LEVENSON, Chair, Bechtel International (retired), Menlo Park, California

    GREGORY R. CHOPPIN, Vice-Chair, Florida State University, Tallahassee

    JOHN E. BERCAW, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena

    DARYLE H. BUSCH, University of Kansas, Lawrence

    JAMES H. ESPENSON, Iowa State University, Ames

    GEORGE E. KELLER II, Union Carbide Corporation (retired), South Charleston, West Virginia

    THEODORE A. KOCH, E.I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company (retired), Wilmington, Delaware

    ALFRED P. SATTELBERGER, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico

    MARTIN J. STEINDLER, Argonne National Laboratory (retired), Downers Grove, Illinois

    Staff

    ROBERT S. ANDREWS, Study Director, Board on Radioactive Waste Management (through January 2001)

    CHRISTOPHER K. MURPHY, Study Director, Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology

    TONI GREENLEAF, Administrative Associate, Board on Radioactive Waste Management

    LAURA D. LLANOS, Senior Project Assistant, Board on Radioactive Waste Management

    ANGELA R. TAYLOR, Senior Project Assistant, Board on Radioactive Waste Management

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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Page v

    BOARD ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

    JOHN F. AHEARNE, Chair, Sigma Xi and Duke University, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina

    CHARLES MCCOMBIE, Vice-Chair, Consultant, Gipf-Oberfrick, Switzerland

    ROBERT M. BERNERO, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (retired), Gaithersburg, Maryland

    ROBERT J. BUDNITZ, Future Resources Associates, Inc., Berkeley, California

    GREGORY R. CHOPPIN, Florida State University, Tallahassee

    RODNEY EWING, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

    JAMES H. JOHNSON, JR., Howard University, Washington, D.C.

    ROGER E. KASPERSON, Stockholm Environment Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    NIKOLAY LAVEROV, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

    JANE C. S. LONG, University of Nevada, Reno

    ALEXANDER MACLACHLAN, E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Company (retired), Wilmington, Delaware

    WILLIAM A. MILLS, Oak Ridge Associated Universities (retired), Olney, Maryland

    MARTIN J. STEINDLER, Argonne National Laboratory (retired), Downers Grove, Illinois

    ATSUYUKI SUZUKI, University of Tokyo, Japan

    JOHN J. TAYLOR, Electric Power Research Institute (retired), Palo Alto, California

    VICTORIA J. TSCHINKEL, Landers and Parsons, Tallahassee, Florida

    Staff

    KEVIN D. CROWLEY, Director

    MICAH D. LOWENTHAL, Staff Officer

    BARBARA PASTINA, Staff Officer

    GREGORY H. SYMMES, Senior Staff Officer

    JOHN R. WILEY, Senior Staff Officer

    SUSAN B. MOCKLER, Research Associate

    TONI GREENLEAF, Administrative Associate

    DARLA J. THOMPSON, Senior Project Assistant / Research Assistant

    LATRICIA C. BAILEY, Senior Project Assistant

    LAURA D. LLANOS, Senior Project Assistant

    ANGELA R. TAYLOR, Senior Project Assistant

    JAMES YATES, JR., Office Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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Page vi

    BOARD ON CHEMICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

    KENNETH N. RAYMOND, Co-Chair, University of California, Berkeley

    JOHN L. ANDERSON, Co-Chair, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    JOSEPH M. DESIMONE, University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University, Raleigh

    CATHERINE C. FENSELAU, University of Maryland, College Park

    ALICE P. GAST, Stanford University, Stanford, California

    RICHARD M. GROSS, Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan

    NANCY B. JACKSON, Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico

    GEORGE E. KELLER II, Union Carbide Company (retired), South Charleston, West Virginia

    SANGTAE KIM, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana

    WILLIAM KLEMPERER, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

    THOMAS J. MEYER, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico

    PAUL J. REIDER, Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, New Jersey

    LYNN F. SCHNEEMEYER, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey

    MARTIN B. SHERWIN, ChemVen Group, Inc., Boca Raton, Florida

    JEFFREY J. SIIROLA, Chemical Process Research Laboratory, Kingsport, Tennessee

    CHRISTINE S. SLOANE, General Motors, Troy, Michigan

    ARNOLD F. STANCELL, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

    PETER J. STANG, University of Utah, Salt Lake City

    JOHN C. TULLY, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticutt

    CHI-HUEY WONG, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California

    STEVEN W. YATES, University of Kentucky, Lexington

    Staff

    DOUGLAS J. RABER, Director

    RUTH MCDIARMID, Program Officer

    CHRISTOPHER K. MURPHY, Program Officer

    SYBIL A. PAIGE, Administrative Associate

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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Page vii

PREFACE

The committee held three meetings and completed two reports in just over six months, a feat that would not have been possible without the assistance of many individuals and organizations. The committee received excellent support from Department of Energy, Westinghouse Savannah River Company, and staff from several national laboratories during the course of this study. On behalf of the committee, I want to acknowledge and thank Kenneth Lang (U.S. Department of Energy) and Harry Harmon (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory), who served as the committee's main points of contact and helped to organize the presentations at the committee's three information-gathering meetings. I also want to thank Jerry Morin and Joe Carter (Westinghouse Savannah River Company) for their help in unraveling the complexities of the high-level waste system at Savannah River, and the other individuals listed in Appendix D who provided briefings to the committee during its information-gathering meetings in Washington, D.C. and in Augusta, Georgia.

The completion of this study also would not have been possible without the support of the Board on Radioactive Waste Management (BRWM) and Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology (BCST). On behalf of the committee, I especially want to acknowledge and thank study directors Robert Andrews (BRWM) and Chris Murphy (BCST), board directors Kevin Crowley (BRWM) and Doug Raber (BCST), and BRWM senior project assistants Laura Llanos, Toni Greenleaf, and Angela Taylor.

Finally, I want to acknowledge and thank my colleagues on the committee, all of whom spent an unusual amount of their time over the past six months preparing for and attending committee meetings and generating and reviewing report drafts. It was a pleasure to lead such a capable group, and I hope that our collective efforts have contributed in some small way to helping the nation address its defense waste legacy in a responsible and cost-effective manner.

Milton Levenson, Chair

June 2001

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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Page viii

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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Page ix

LIST OF REVIEWERS

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC's Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

J. Brent Hiskey, University of Arizona

Edward Lahoda, Westinghouse Science and Technology Department

Kenneth N. Raymond, University of California, Berkeley

Lanny Robbins, Dow Chemical Company

Della Roy, Pennsylvania State University

Stephen Yates, University of Kentucky

Edwin L. Zebroski, Elgis Consulting

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Royce W. Murray, University of North Carolina, appointed by the National Research Council, who was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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Page x

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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Page xi

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY, 1
INTRODUCTION, 5
PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF DOE'S RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, 8
    Small Tank Tetraphenylborate Precipitation, 9
    Crystalline Silicotitanate Ion Exchange, 15
    Caustic Side Solvent Extraction, 22
    Actinide and Strontium Removal, 28
REFERENCES, 34
APPENDIXES
Appendix A     Letters of Request for this Study, 35
Appendix B     Interim Report, 40
Appendix C     Biographical Sketches of Committee Members, 77
Appendix D     Information-Gathering Meetings, 81
Appendix E     Acronyms and Abbreviations, 84
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10170.
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is nearing a decision on how to process 30 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste salt solutions at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to remove strontium, actinides, and cesium for immobilization in glass and eventual shipment to a geologic repository. The department is sponsoring research and development (R&D) work on four alternative processes and plans to use the results to make a downselection decision in a June 2001 time frame. The DOE requested that the National Research Council help inform this decision by addressing the following charge:

  1. evaluate the adequacy of the criteria that will be used by the department to select from among the candidate processes under consideration;
  2. evaluate the progress and results of the research and development work that is being undertaken on these candidate processes; and
  3. assess whether the technical uncertainties have been sufficiently resolved to proceed with downsizing the list of candidate processes.

Responses to the last two points are provided in this report. Research and Development on a Salt Processing Alternative for High-Level Waste at the Savannah River Site focuses exclusively on the technical issues related to the candidate processes for radionuclide removal from high-level waste salt solutions at SRS. The committee's interim report served as a response to the first point of this charge, and may be read in Appendix B. In that report, the committee found that DOE's proposed criteria are an acceptable basis for selecting among the candidate processes under consideration, but that the criteria should not be implemented in a way that relies on a single numerical "total score."

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