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Potential Hazard of Ferrocyanide Salts in High-Level Waste Tanks Within the Hanford Tank Farm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

S. F. Agnew ,
S. W. Eisenhawer ,
R. F. Davidson  and
L. H. Sullivan
S. F. Agnew
Affiliation:
Inorganic and Structural Chemistry Group, Mail Stop C346
S. W. Eisenhawer
Affiliation:
Inorganic and Structural Chemistry Group, Mail Stop C346
R. F. Davidson
Affiliation:
Inorganic and Structural Chemistry Group, Mail Stop C346
L. H. Sullivan
Affiliation:
Engineering and Safety Analysis Group, Mail Stop K557 Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
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Abstract

Over the past few years, there has been an increased awareness of the potential hazard of energetic chemical reactions in high-level radioactive waste tanks at the Hanford tank farm. In particular, a mixture of Na2NiFe(CN)6 with NaNO3 and NaNO2 in several high-level waste tanks has caused concern. The problem of the FeCN tanks is fundamentally one of a potentially unstable mixture of fuel (the CN- moiety) and oxidizer (NO3- or NO2-).

At Los Alamos National Laboratory, we have performed an extensive reanalysis of the safety problems associated with the presence of Na2NiFe(CN)6 mixed with NaNO3/NO2 for a particular tank (104-BY) that contains by far the largest amount of the nickel ferrocyanide salt (∼2E5 mol). Our approach is to use conservative assumptions to bound both the energy density for a potential runaway reaction and the mass that could participate if we assume ignition as the result of bounding radionuclide concentrations. The subsequent progress of the accident is analyzed using an advanced hydrodynamics computer code called MESA to evaluate the loads on the structure and the generation of aerosols. The subsequent doses are shown to be low both on and off the site. The conservatism in the analysis is quite large, and the expected results using more realistic assumptions are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 257: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XV , 1991 , 389
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

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References

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