LANL Update Randy Erickson Associate Director for Environmental - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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EFCOG Meeting Waste Management 2016

LANL Update

Randy Erickson

Associate Director for Environmental Management Los Alamos National Laboratory

March 10, 2016

LA-UR-16-21472

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Highest Priority: Nitrate Salts

• Nitrate Salt Waste Activities

– Safety and Compliance of the LANL waste inventory – Corrective Actions from accident investigations – Treatment

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Nitrate Salt Waste: Robust Technical Basis Developed for Safe Storage and Treatment

• Small-scale testing for thermal sensitivity
• Modeling and analysis
• Potential mixtures of nitrate salts
• Thermo-chemical behavior at drum scale
• Head space gas monitoring
• Temperature effects on reaction rate
• Declining reactions over time (due to depletion)
• Full-scale drum tests
• Early-warning signatures of thermal runaway
• Importance of gas phase chemistry and pressure

Key Conclusions

• Thermal runaway possible at ambient

conditions in unvented drum.

• Risk of thermal runaway decreases

with time.

• Reducing temperature and eliminating

pressure prevents thermal runaway.

Implications

• After 20+ months of storage, thermal

runaway is extremely unlikely under stable ambient conditions.

• Concerns remain about accident

scenarios that could significantly increase the waste temperature by external heating.

• Providing enhanced pressure relief

adds an additional margin of safety.

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LANS is implementing a two-pronged strategy to mitigate the remediated nitrate salt (RNS) risk.

• Strategy 2: Treat the waste

in the RNS drums to eliminate risk of thermal chemical reactions as soon as we can do so safely. Integrated Project Team (DOE/LANS) is responsible for developing and enabling implementation of mitigation strategies

• Strategy 1: Safely control the RNS environment

(temperature and pressure) through engineered controls including wildland fire risk mitigation

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Corrective Actions to Prevent Recurrence and Support Treatment

• LANL, WIPP and the Federal
• rganizations have developed

coordinated and integrated corrective actions

• Many actions have already been

taken or are in progress

• Improvements in waste

characterization

• Robust procedure development

process to ensure effective SME and management reviews

• Formal Engineering Change

Control process

• Technical Basis documentation

Preliminary treatment plans developed

• Testing nearly complete for the

technical basis and processing variables for regulatory approvals

• Treat the materials to eliminate the

hazards by mixing with zeolite

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Path Forward: Safety, Urgency, Thoroughness, Alignment

• Focus on expeditious risk mitigation strategies that are technically

sound while maintaining safety during all evolutions.

• Draw experienced resources from parent companies and across

the Complex.

• Leverage DOE/LANS Integrated Project Team to coordinate

progress.

• Assure full vetting through collaboration and peer review
• Emphasize timely and meaningful communications to

accommodate the number and diversity of stakeholders.