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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.
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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 .
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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CONTENTS
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