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Advice on the Department of Energy's Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges (2009)
Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board (NRSB)

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169
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Advice on the Department of Energy’s Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges

Appendix C
Needs Matrix

This Appendix summarizes the committee’s initial assessments of technology needs that led to its short list of technology gaps and the gap analyses presented in Chapter 2.

 Page
169

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OCR for page 169
Advice on the Department of Energy’s Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges Appendix C Needs Matrix This Appendix summarizes the committee’s initial assessments of technology needs that led to its short list of technology gaps and the gap analyses presented in Chapter 2.

OCR for page 170
Advice on the Department of Energy’s Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges EM Cleanup Problem or Issue Medium- to Long-Term Technology Need Relevant to Site? [(x) = our view] Technology Approaches OR HAN ID SR Supporting decisions concerning “how clean is clean”: tanks, subsurface remediation, facility D&D Technical basis to support evaluation of alternative risk-informed approaches x x x x Develop a generic technical approach and data insofar as possible for doing site-specific performance and cleanup technology assessments for capped burial grounds, capped engineered structures (tanks, vaults, canyons, reactors), and the extent of decontamination required Increasing the rate at which low-activity waste (LAW) is converted to a final waste form Improved/alternative LAW waste treatment technology   x   (x) Improved/alternative LAW stabilization technology Improved/alternative tank waste processing technology to feed LAW stabilization Unexplained increases in mercury (Hg) concentrations in the environment Understanding Hg in the environment x   (x)   Develop a mechanistic understanding of the chemistry, transport, and biology of Hg in the environment and key receptor species Ensuring continuity of knowledge/experience due to impending retirements and the inability to maintain critical and stable level of funding to support high-priority technology areas Continuity of knowledge x x x x Systematically identify and prioritize threats to the continuity of knowledge Removing nonradioactive chemicals such as Al, Cr, Na from sludge Improved separations technology   x   x More selective and efficient approaches to removing nonradioactive chemicals from sludge wastes             Develop accurate simulants Removing key radionuclides—Cs, Sr, TRU, Tc—from sludge Improved separations technology   x   x More selective and efficient approaches, including alternatives, to removing key radionuclides from supernatants

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Advice on the Department of Energy’s Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges Increasing the rate at which proccessed high-level waste (HLW) is converted to a final waste form Improved HLW stabilization technology   x   x Improve instrumentation to reduce batch holding times Alternative high-throughput melters Improve ability of glass to incorporate waste Alternative HLW forms Develop accurate simulants Tank cleanout with many physical obstructions (coils, debris, and annuli) Improved retrieval technology   x   x Chemical approaches to removing waste from surfaces that do not degrade the tanks or cause downstream problems             Physical approaches to isolate or corral debris while retrieving waste to the maximum extent practical             Physical approaches to demolish and remove internal tank structures to allow access for waste retrieval and reduce intrusion pathways Lack of capability to predict contaminant mobility in varying situations. Includes bioactivity, reactivity with environment, releases from deactivation and decommissioning (D&D), changes in hydrology with building removal Understanding contaminant mobility x x x x Broad-based understanding of source mobilization, transport, and degradation for organic and inorganic species in the subsurface Predicting the long-term performance of caps, liners, and reactive barriers Understanding the behavior of engineered containment barriers x x x x Broad-based understanding of the performance of caps and liners in the context of their natural environment Broad-based understanding of the performance and longevity of reactive barriers

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Advice on the Department of Energy’s Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges EM Cleanup Problem or Issue Medium- to Long-Term Technology Need Relevant to Site? [(x) = our view] Technology Approaches OR HAN ID SR Faster methods to gather the solids from waste tanks while minimizing the amount of water introduced into tanks Improved retrieval technology (x) x x x Faster physical approaches (e.g., pushers) that still keep water volume increase low Predicting the long-term performance of saltstone (including effects of chemicals from sludge washing), saltstone vaults, grouted tanks, grouted pipelines Understanding the behavior of engineered containment barriers (x) x x x Extend the current duration for predicting the performance of cementious materials not containing waste constituents Obtain capability to predict the performance of cementious materials containing waste constituents Separating solids from supernatant and mobilized sludge streams Improved separations technology   x   x More efficient, reliable, and compact technologies to separate solids from liquids Develop accurant simulants Supporting changes in regulations that allow improvement in productivity and safety for workers, for example, transite removal Technical basis to support evaluation of alternative risk-informed approaches x x x x Develop a comparison of the risks and costs of the current approach to removing transite from facilities and an approach involving use of remote systems. Develop remote systems for removing transite panels from buildings well aboveground to provide a basis for the comparative evaluation Characterization and remediation of dangerous buildings contaminated with hazardous materials Remote techologies x (x) (x) (x) Automated remote systems and robots deploying sensors for radionuclides, asbestos, and organic chemicals Automated remote systems and robots deploying tools to remove equipment, decontaminate surfaces and remove deposits of radionuclides and chemicals, and remove asbestos from pipes and equipment

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Advice on the Department of Energy’s Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges Nuclear materials, wastes, and spent fuels having no disposal path Technical basis to support evaluation of alternative risk-informed approaches x x x x Develop generic technical approaches and data for site-specific use, and specific techncial approaches and data for multisite issues, to provide a technical basis for risk-informed changes to treatment, waste acceptance criteria, and regulations Developing cost-effective, in situ remediation of carbon tetrachloride, Cr+6, Cs, U, Sr, and other contaminant plumes Improved remediation technology (x) x (x) (x) Capability to retrieve most of the toxic materials in subsurface plumes Capability for fixing or destroying toxic species in subsurface plumes that is sustainable over the long term Retrieval or control of buried contaminants (including pyrophoric material) from hot-spot sources Improved remediation technology x (x) x (x) Capability to locate hot spots Capability to retrieve hot spots and backfill without impairing function of existing engineered barriers Capability to stabilize hot spots in situ Disaggregation/size reduction of residual clinkers, gravel, and recalcitant surface deposits in waste tanks Improved retrieval technology   x   x Chemical approaches that do not degrade the tanks or cause downstream problems Focused physical approaches (e.g., focused water jets, grinders) Efficient and safe human access to dangerous environnments Better worker protection equipment (x) (x) x (x) Lighter and cooler PPEs to allow workers to safely remain longer in the presence of hazardous airborne materials Handling shear thickening sludges Understanding of sludge behavior   x     Predictive understanding of sludge behavior (chemical and physical) as a function of its content and environment Develop accurate simulants Underground piping cleanout and closure Improved retrieval technology (x) x x x Technology to clean and close clogged pipelines

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Advice on the Department of Energy’s Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges EM Cleanup Problem or Issue Medium- to Long-Term Technology Need Relevant to Site? [(x) = our view] Technology Approaches OR HAN ID SR Long-term monitoring of closed facilities and engineered barrier systems Improved monitoring technology x x x x Capability for sustainable remote monitoring around and within engineered facilities and barriers Long-term monitoring strategies and devices for contaminants in soil and groundwater and deep vadose zones Improved monitoring technology x x x x Capability for sustainable remote subsurface monitoring Determining moisture flux through representative waste sites, including vegetated and graveled surfaces, accounting for seasonal variations in precipitation and heating and development of barriers to moisture infiltration Improved subsurface characterization (x) x (x) (x) Develop real-time capability to measure water flux through engineered barriers Predicting the long-term performance of construction concrete (e.g., canyons, reactors) that is intact or reduced to grouted rubble Understanding the behavior of engineered containment barriers         Broad-based understanding of the performance of engineered barrier systems in the context of their natural environment Broad-based understanding of the performance of reactive barriers Extend the current duration for predicting the performance of cementitious materials not containing waste constituents Obtain predictive capability to predict the performance of cementitious materials containing waste constituents

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Advice on the Department of Energy’s Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges Increased HLW storage tank capacity Technical basis to support evaluation of alternative risk-informed approaches   x   x Develop a risk-informed comparison of the current approach and an approach involving additional waste tanks which would lead to more waste being retrieved by using more water Extend the current understanding of tank waste chemistry to provide a basis for combining wastes now believed to be incompatible Detailed analysis for determining proposed alternative end-state acceptance criteria or performance assessment for large contaminated structures such as canyon buildings Technical basis to support evaluation of alternative risk-informed approaches   x   x Develop a generic technical approach and data insofar as possible for doing site-specific performance and remediation technology assessments for greenfield and rubbleized/grouted facilities such as canyons and reactors Determining how to characterize the subsurface if there is a large amount of subsurface piping or other structures Improved subsurface characterization (x) x (x) (x) Extended the capabilities of High Resolution Resistivity/Subsurface Geophysical Exploration to areas with large amounts of infrastructure and to areas with comingled plumes from nearby cribs and trenches Develop noninvasive subsurface characterization technologies for humid sites Field screening methods for packaged waste to characterize actinide content with high radiation backgrounds Improved technology for characterizing difficult wastes and materials x x x   Advanced, real-time assay and characterization techniques for fissile material, key radionuclides, and other paramaters (e.g., moisture content) for materials with high neutron and/or gamma background Reducing future Al additions to HLW tanks Remove Al cladding from fuels before dissolution       x Technology to efficiently and inexpensively declad Al-clad fuels

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Advice on the Department of Energy’s Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges EM Cleanup Problem or Issue Medium- to Long-Term Technology Need Relevant to Site? [(x) = our view] Technology Approaches OR HAN ID SR Technical impracticality waiver Technical basis to support evaluation of alternative risk-informed approaches x       Develop a generic technical approach and data insofar as possible for doing site-specific performance and remediation technology assessments to support consideration of technology impracticability waivers Real-time detection of airborne contaminant release during demolition of Be-contaminated buildings Improved sensors x       Sensors capable of real-time detection of Be on surfaces and in the air Removal of contaminants from cementitious matrices Improved decontamination technology   x     Advanced methods to leach/migrate contaminants from cementitious matrices Acceptability of treated Idaho sodium bearing waste in Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Technical basis to support evaluation of alternative risk-informed approaches     x   Develop a risk-informed basis for disposing of sodium-bearing waste and other TRU wastes in WIPP Predictability and control of hydrogen generation Understanding of sludge behavior   x     Predictive understanding of sludge behavior (chemical and physical) as a function of its content and environment Regulator-approved technologies for characterizing soil and groundwater in the field Improved subsurface characterization (x) x (x) (x) Develop technologies acceptable to regulators (with regulatory involvement) to characterize contaminants in the field Disposition approach for Idaho calcine Technical basis to support evaluation of alternative risk-informed approaches     x   Develop a risk-informed comparison of disposing of calcine, vitrified calcine, and separated and vitrified calcine in an HLW repository

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Advice on the Department of Energy’s Cleanup Technology Roadmap: Gaps and Bridges Mobile waste retrieval systems for small tanks Improved retrieval technology x   Mobile, flexible, smaller retrieval devices that can be easily transported from tank to tank Processing SRS Tank 48 waste Destruction of residual tetraphenylborate (TPB) and other organic chemicals   x Improved understanding of TPB degradation and the effects of tank contents thereon