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708 East Broad Street		Falls Church, VA 22046-3610
Tel: (703) 241-8711	Fax: (703) 241-8714	www.ricllc.com

RADIOACTIVE ISOLATION CONSORTIUM, LLC
(RIC, LLC)

ADVANCED VITRIFICATION SYSTEM (RIC AVS)

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

(DE-AC26-98FT40450)

PHASE I

GATE 3 REQUIREMENTS, DELIVERABLES, AND AVS EXPLORATORY DEVELOPMENT PROPOSED FINDINGS

R	I	C
A	V	S

SEPTEMBER 1999

RIC, LLC, 1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, #900, Falls Church, VA 22046-3610
Tel: 703-241-8711 Fax: 703-241-8714
http://www.ricllc.com

Development of an Advanced Vitrification System – Phase I
Exploratory Development Stage
DOE Award Number: DE-AC26-98FT40450
Topical Report Issued: April 2, 1999

Draft Addendum to the Report Issued September 1999
Co-Principal Investigators:
James R. Powell Morris Reich

Submitted by: James C. Jordan, President and CEO
Radioactive Isolation Consortium, LLC
708 East Broad Street,, Falls Church, VA 22046-3610
Tel: 703-241-8711

Significant Subcontractors: Argus Remediation Technologies, Inc., Millersville, MD
Burns and Roe Enterprises, Inc., Oradell, NJ
UCAR Carbon Company, Inc., Clarksburg, WV
Auburn University, Auburn, AL
Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS
Corning Engineering Laboratory Services, NY

ABSTRACT

Vitrification of high-level nuclear wastes has long been thought to represent the best technology for immobilization. Most successful examples of this technology have been associated with the waste streams from spent fuel reprocessing plants. In the U.S., the high-level waste issue is more involved with the stabilization of the wastes generated during the production of nuclear materials for national defense, and as such, the waste characteristics have made a successful vitrification process difficult to achieve. Congress mandated in recent funding language that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) investigate unique and innovative approaches to vitrification technology. The DOE awarded a sole source contract to the Radioactive Isolation Consortium, LLC (RIC) to develop and demonstrate its unique and innovative concept for vitrifying high-level radioactive waste. This new concept provides a unique approach to vitrification-in-the-final-storage-canister that holds the potential for significantly greater safety, reliability, and economy than current high-level radioactive waste vitrification systems. The current contract is for the completion and demonstration of a half scale operating prototype. This first phase of the RIC AVS project is being approached in two Stages: (1) a fourteen-month stage (the Exploratory Development Stage), and (2) an eighteen-month stage (the Advanced Development Stage). This report documents the results of the Exploratory Development Stage.

The Exploratory Development Stage produced high quality samples of glass using a range of Hanford-based simulant compositions and concentrations. The bench-scale samples have demonstrated the viability of the RIC concept by making glass with excellent leach resistance characteristics using waste concentrations of 100% by weight. In the product glass these waste concentrations are 3 or more times greater than the waste concentrations in glass made using conventional melters. This RIC AVS capability can reduce the number of canisters needed to dispose of the Hanford high level waste by a factor of 2 to 3.

Experimental results have also confirmed that the RIC AVS can

vitrify caustic high level wastes with a pH up to 13.4,
tolerate wide chemical variations in high level waste feeds, as is present at Hanford,
vitrify high level wastes with simpler waste pretreatment and melter feed requirements, and
greatly shorten the time required to vitrify all of Hanford’s high level wastes.

The bench scale tests also validated the theoretical assumptions for the subsequent engineering, fabrication, and manufacturing of the RIC AVS. A pre-conceptual design of the full-scale embodiment of the RIC AVS concept has been developed and has been used as the basis for a preliminary life-cycle cost estimate that confirms that the RIC AVS costs per unit of waste vitrified are less than half the costs per unit vitrified of a continuous throughput conventional melter.

Project Goals

The project will prove that the Radioactive Isolation Consortium's Advanced Vitrification System (RIC AVS) technology will produce HLW glass suitable for long-term storage and disposal while achieving significant cost savings a faster campaign schedule and improved safety.

DOE's award to the Radioactive Isolation Consortium (RIC) is to complete validation tests in Phase I by building and operating a half-scale prototype of the RIC AVS Module.

Phase I is a two-stage approach to the proof of principle of the RIC AVS technology. Stage I, termed the "Exploratory Development Stage," has been funded at $2 million and is completed with this report.

Stage I produced glass utilizing a Department of Energy (DOE) designated surrogate of Hanford Tank Wastes.

Stage II, termed the "Engineering Development Stage," has been funded at $12 million and will be completed about 18 months after start. Stage II will produce and operate a half-scale prototype of the RIC-Advanced Vitrification System technology. The completion of Stage II RIC plans to offer DOE a competitive privatization proposal for work at Hanford.

Phase II of the project will produce and test a full-scale RIC AVS Module which will be capable of hot operations at Hanford. The Phase II project cost is estimated at $72 million (FY 1997 dollars) and will be a part of the privatization proposal with funding expected from DOE.

Phase I Stage I work included validation and data gathering bench-scale tests, preparation of a pre-conceptual design of the baseline full-scale RIC AVS facility, and preparation of a facility life-cycle cost estimate.

Successful testing and design work resulted in initial projections for completing all high level waste vitrification work at Hanford using the RIC AVS at less than half the cost projected for the planned continuous throughput melter and being completed in about 12 years rather than 30 or more years currently planned.

Gate 3 Review Deliverables

The documentation/deliverables summarized below address the criteria/requirements required by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to evaluate the results of the Exploratory Development Stage of the Advanced Vitrification System (RIC AVS) Phase 1 Program. The evaluation is officially termed a "Gate 3" review.

The detail provided in the deliverables reflects the status of the technology at time of entry into the Gate 3 review. Each of the 6 Programmatic Driver Criteria is discussed in the following subsections. Table 1.3.1-1 is a compliance matrix in which the Gate 3 required deliverables are identified by reference to the appropriate section within this report.

Programmatic Driver Criterion: Technology End User Need

Requirement

Project must be relevant to a defined high-priority DOE environmental management need.

Deliverable

The Technology Developer/Principal Investigator (TD/PI) must show how the proposed technology is tied directly to one or more of these needs.

Background

The Focus Area/Crosscutting Programs/Industry Programs (FA/CC/IP) will develop a high-priority Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management needs list for their respective program from the information gathered on the needs template established by the Site Technology Coordinating Groups (STCGs). This will include the priority of the need, required implementation dates, baseline technology, performance requirements, and associated costs.

FINDINGS

The Technology is directly tied to the high-priority environmental management need to isolate high level radioactive wastes (HLW) from the biosphere.
RIC (the TD/PI) has demonstrated that its Advanced Vitrification System (RIC AVS) is tied directly to the cleanup of the Hanford tank wastes. Simulated wastes to DOE's specifications have been vitrified using the RIC AVS technology.
The unique and inherent capability of the RIC AVS technology to routinely vitrify a wide variety of chemically complex high level wastes matches the requirements for vitrifying Hanford wastes, which are known to vary in chemical composition from tank to tank, within the tanks, and over time as the wastes age.
This unique and inherent capability is due first to the fact that the RIC AVS is a "single batch disposable melter." Single batch means that the chemistry of the wastes is almost irrelevant in terms of the deleterious effects on the life of the melter. It is important only insofar as the RIC AVS melter can operate for several days, that is, as long as it takes to vitrify the single batch. The RIC AVS melter does not have to be preserved for years of operation as is required for the continuous melter. Use the RIC AVS melter once and it is done. This removes process control limitations currently causing much of the expense and risk of failure for the continuous melter.
Secondly, the unique and inherent capability is due the high vitrification temperatures permitted in the RIC AVS. The operating envelope for the RIC AVS can be as low as the continuous melter, around 1150 degrees Centigrade. It can also be as high as 1600 degrees Centigrade.
Higher vitrification temperatures are beneficial in three respects--
They permit loading the glass to with 70 to 100 percent waste, the remaining part being glass inducing chemicals.
They permit melting waste compositions having high melting points.
They permit the formation of a more durable (leach resistant) glass.
Operation at melt temperatures of 1400 -1600 degrees Centigrade is not practicable for a continuous melter, because the continuous melter’s lifetime would diminish from years to days. When one is not concerned with preserving the lifetime of the melter beyond a few days, as the case with the RIC AVS, which need operate through only one melt process, then high temperatures are possible on a routine basis.
There is a large economic cost to the Government associated with the continuous melter technology due to the waste blending process step and the waste pretreatment process step to bring the waste chemistry within contractual delivery requirements. Such process steps can be expensive as they contemplate the construction of large blending tanks and miles of associated piping. Since the RIC AVS technology can enlarge the field of acceptable waste chemistries, then such operating flexibility eliminates a burden on the government concerning meeting such delivery requirements. This burden is not only a costly process step subject to failures, it is also a source of economic and environmental liability. If conforming wastes cannot be delivered on time, DOE will be liable for the delay costs. Also, no complex chemical process is without risk of pollution and damage to the environment.
Limited blending might be anticipated in the RIC AVS in order to increase the HLW content of the waste mixture, to permit the vitrification of a higher waste loaded glass, or in very limited circumstances to reduce the concentration of elements precluding the formation of glass in the 1150-1600 degrees Centigrade operating envelope of the RIC AVS.

1.1.2 Priority of the Need -- The Hanford waste "poses a serious safety concern to the public and to the environment . . . . DOE, State regulatory agencies, and stakeholders view the tank waste cleanup as one of their top priorities." DOE Report to Congress, Treatment and Immobilization of Hanford Radioactive Tank Waste, July 1998. The national policy for development of high-payback research on this issue was first set by Congress FY 1997. For each year, beginning in FY 1997, the Congress of the United States recommended in the conference reports to the Energy and Water Development Appropriation Acts that the Department of Energy conduct research on higher risk, high-payback processing and vitrification technologies such as the RIC AVS technology.

Required Implementation Dates - The current implementation date projected by DOE under the "Privatization" agreement with the British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) group for start of the vitrification of HLW at Hanford is projected for 2007. Thereafter, in 2018, a minimum of 10 percent of the tank wastes will be vitrified. Using baseline technology, it might be expected that the remaining 90% of the tank wastes could be vitrified over an additional 30 years. The RIC AVS technology is projected to advance the initiation of HLW vitrification at Hanford by three years and could shorten the campaign by 4 decades, resulting in all of the waste being vitrified in only 12 years, instead of 50. One commercial size (12 modules) RIC AVS facility could vitrify all of Hanford’s HLW in 4 years of operation. This rate assumes a commerical size facility would produce at a rate of 4 canisters per day. The single RIC AVS prototype unit is scheduled for completion in 2004 and could run hot thereafter, producing a canister of waste every 3 days. Such operation in 2004 would advance the schedule for hot operations by 2 years.

Baseline Technology

The current DOE baseline technology is vitrification of HLW by mixing with borosilicate glass. Baseline technology also employs a central vitrifier and the melted mix is poured into the container.
The baseline RIC AVS technology also involves mixing radioactive waste with borosilicate glass. The RIC AVS directly melts the waste frit feed in the final disposal container with no need for further processing.
The current DOE baseline centralized melter is subject to failures that can stop processing operations and be costly to repair. The one-time-use RIC AVS eliminates this failure and repair mechanism.
The current DOE baseline centralized melter operates over long periods and therefore has certain operating limits that reduce its efficiency.

The first example is the limitation on the chemical content of the waste as a feed to the centralized melter necessitates pretreatment of the wastes, which can be costly. The RIC AVS only operates the melter once in the canister, so it has a much higher tolerance for variations in the chemical composition of the waste reducing the need for costly and extensive pretreatment.

The second example is the combination of the chemical sensitivity of the centralized melter to changes in waste composition and the limit on the highest melt temperature achievable in a centralized melter. These factors place a limit on the maximum waste loading that can be generated in the glass product and therefore a maximum waste content per container.

The limit of the amount of waste in the waste form for the centralized melter is about 25% if the waste does not contain large amounts of silica. This value is determined by limits related to the safe and economic operation of the melter rather than by limits imposed by wasteform properties.

At Hanford where some of the waste contains large quantities of glass formers such as silica and sodium oxide, the centralized melter actual waste loading may be as high as 50% while the "reduced" waste loading (ignoring the sodium and silicon oxide concentrations in the glass) remains about 25%.

In comparison the RIC AVS technology has experimentally demonstrated the capability to produce a vitrified leach resistant glass of 100% actual waste loading from the Hanford waste with about 60% "reduced" waste loading.

The AVS is projected to have the capability of making a wasteform with only 20% silica, indicating that "reduced" waste loadings of about 80% are achievable. This is to be compared to the centralized melter, which is limited to a maximum "reduced" waste loading of 25% because of the technology limitations noted above. These favorable comparisons are achieved because the RIC AVS technology uses the melter only once so it has a much higher tolerance for the chemical content of the waste and can achieve a melt temperature about 1/3 higher than the centralized melter.

Finally, in the RIC AVS technology the steel container is maintained at close to room temperature and thus the material properties of the steel are not affected by the high temperatures of the poured glass as they are in the baseline centralized melter technology. This should translate into a higher lifetime of the steel container in the final disposal repository.

Associated Costs

It has been demonstrated that the RIC AVS technology can vitrify a 100% waste glass with no frit or other additives. In the event that frit is required for some waste chemistries, it is anticipated that the higher waste loading will provide a 3 to 1 advantage in disposal costs. A smaller facility, one that requires little chemical melter feed preparation, and one that eliminates decontamination and decommissioning costs of the melter is projected to reduce operating costs by a factor of 2.
The RIC AVS technology is cost effective. A recent life cycle cost comparison of the RIC AVS and with published costs of the systems at Savannah River and the projected costs of the Privatization Contractor Group at Hanford reveal the dramatically favorable costs that could be achieved by the RIC AVS:

Projected Life Cycle Costs at Design Throughput in $/Kg HLW
Advanced Vitrification System (RIC AVS)	$459
Current Privatization Contract at Hanford Site	$1,200
DWPF at Savannah River Site	$2,400

Requirement

Research will yield results within a time frame consistent with implementation/deployment needs.

Deliverable

The TD/PI must provide evidence that the research and development of the technology has a high probability of completion within the required implementation/deployment time frame.

Background

The required implementation dates for the technology will be provided by the (FA/CC/IP).

FINDINGS

The Technology will yield results within a time frame consistent with implementation/ deployment needs.

The RIC AVS technology is timely in that it is on a development schedule for possible implementation faster than traditional technology: A half-scale operating prototype is scheduled for operability by April 2001 and a full-scale operating prototype is scheduled to be built and operating in Hanford by April 2004. The single RIC AVS prototype unit scheduled for completion in 2004 and could run hot thereafter, producing a canister of waste every 3 days. Such operation in 2004 would advance the schedule for hot operations by 2 years.
High Probability of Completion -- The RIC AVS technology combines existing technology in an innovative and useful way. Additional engineering development work is required, but is thought to be well within the existing technology base. No leap of science or technology is required.


The above photographs show long graphite tubes and thin-walled sections of tubes in production at UCAR Carbon Company of West Virginia. The size and shape of these tubes is comparable to that required in the RIC AVS.

Therefore, completion within the projected time frame has a high probability of success. Additionally, a full scale RIC AVS facility would have the capability to complete the Hanford HLW vitrification campaign within 4 years of initial operation as opposed to 30 or more years with traditional technology.

Programmatic Driver Criterion: Technical Merit

Requirement

Scientific and/or technical merit of the project must be well founded.
Likelihood is high that the research will lead to new discoveries or have substantial impact on progress in that field.

Deliverable

The TD/PI should emphasize the innovative aspects of the technology.

Requirement

Proposed methods or approach for demonstration and implementation are scientifically based.

Deliverable

The TD/PI must discuss the appropriateness of the research as it relates to acceptable technical practices.

Requirement

Potential technical advantage(s) over baseline and/or alternative technologies must be well defined.

Deliverable

The TD/PI must provide evidence that the technology has technical advantages over the baseline and/or alternative technologies.

Background

The baseline technology will be provided by the FA/CC/IP in concert with the STCG and site.

FINDINGS

The Technology proposed for development has scientific and technical merit.

Scientific and Technical Merit -- The testing performed in the Exploratory Development Stage demonstrated the flexibility of the RIC AVS concept, and it has also demonstrated the superiority of the RIC AVS technology in producing high waste loadings with little or no waste pretreatment and melter feed preparation.

The results from the RIC AVS Exploratory Development Stage indicates significant advantages over the present conventional melter system in terms of--

1. Greater operating reliability and safety the pre-conceptual design of the RIC AVS module and vitrification facility is based on 12 paralleled single cells that process RIC AVS modules.

Failure of an induction heating coil or cooling circuit in one of the process cells will not significantly impact the ability of the facility to continue to process modules, in contrast to the conventional large melter, where failure of a unit will shut down or seriously degrade plant capacity.
Failure of an RIC AVS module will not shut down the ability of a process cell to continue operation, since the modules are self-contained unit that can be readily removed from the cell.

A disposable melter in the RIC AVS dramatically reduces the possibility of a melt processing accident as have occurred with conventional melters. It eliminates the possibility of failure resulting from electrode failure (there are no electrodes), and plugging (there is no melt pouring).

2. Tests of the RIC AVS vitrified waste products have demonstrated excellent PCT performance, being one to two orders of magnitude more leach resistant the standard EA waste glass product.

3. RIC AVS tests have demonstrated much higher HLW loading than possible with conventional melters.

A waste loading of 100% was demonstrated in the supplemental test. This capability is due to operability at temperatures of about 1600ºC. Conventional melters are limited to about 29% HLW loading in borosilicate glass and a maximum operating temperature generally fixed at about 1200ºC. The RIC AVS has only short maximum temperature exposure time before its crucible is disposed of with the melt. The conventional crucible must last years in operation. This high loading capability result in the RIC AVS requiring two to three times fewer canisters to dispose of the same quantity of HLW.

4. The RIC AVS experimental tests have demonstrated a capability to handle HLW of a wide range of feed compositions--

This includes wastes with problem elements such as Cr and Zr. The glass product produced with varying compositions had excellent leach resistance. The import of this attribute is that extensive blending of tank wastes, which is a necessity for conventional melters operating in Hanford wastes, is not required for the RIC AVS.

The batch melt process which operates only for a short period of time. Also there are no critical failure-prone components, such as the electrodes, and no sensitive process constraints, such as cold caps. The import of this is that DOE can plan to address the wastes an individual tank basis, making the whole process more manageable and reliable.

There is process flexibility to vitrify high alkaline pH, neutral pH, or acid pH wastes. The RIC AVS eliminates process requirements for adjusting the pH of the feed.

5. A faster Hanford campaign is possible using the RIC AVS.

The pre-conceptual RIC AVS facility design, which has an output capacity of 4 modules per day, could vitrify all of Hanford’s HLW waste in only 4 years—a faster rate than possible with conventional melters. Others factors, such as tank retrieval rates are likely to gait campaign time however, the RIC AVS vitrification system can meet any Hanford cleanup schedule likely to be imposed.

6. There is significant cost savings potential over a conventional melter system. Cost factors in comparison the continuous melter—

Lower capital costs

Smaller operating staff due to a simpler flowsheet and smaller facility

Smaller D&D costs due to the smaller radiological foot print

Projected cost per kg of vitrified HLW are about one-half of a conventional melter.

Fewer canisters will be sent to the repository for the same quantity of waste. For every percentage point higher in waste loading than a conventional melter, Secretary Moniz estimated savings on the order of $250 million. If a conventional melter is 29% waste loading and RIC AVS is 80% waste loaded, that translates into a savings potential of $12.7 billion.

The testing program vindicated earlier technical reviews on the RIC AVS technology. The technical review performed in February 1998 favorably resulted in the award of a contract from DOE. Prior to that, an independent technical review before a panel of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers established by the DOE in 1997 concluded that the technology has "merit," "is relevant to DOE needs," and is "scientifically sound." Prior to that, the RIC AVS technology was also reviewed by the Chairman and staff of the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board, who concluded that "there are sufficient potential advantages to warrant a feasibility study including proof of principle tests."

RIC AVS system operability issues are within normal engineering risks for the technology and the Exploratory Development Stage did not identify any significant developmental barriers.

The aforementioned safety, environmental and economic benefits of the RIC AVS included with RIC’s commitment to provide a privatization contract proposal at the end of Stage 2 make for a compelling technical and programmatic case that the RIC AVS project should proceed to the next stage, without delay.

Programmatic Driver Criterion: Cost

Requirement

The proposed budget for research is reasonable.

Deliverable

The TD/PI must show the budget for the life of the project broken down on an annual basis. An estimated budget with major elements identified and costed for the research through Stage 3 must be provided.

FINDINGS

RIC AVS Technology Development Plan and Budget Overview is shown in the table on the next page. It shows a Stage 2 Advanced Development Stage costing $12 million. At the end of Stage 2, RIC will be prepared to offer the DOE a privatization contract similar to the DOE-BNFL privatization contract at Hanford. The contract would include a DOE funded development stage of $72 million after which RIC would privately finance the full scale AVS facility. The price for vitrification is expected to be in the neighborhood of $459 per kilogram of delivered vitrified HLW.

AVS Technology Development Plan and Budget Overview
Engineering Development And Demonstration						Implementation
Pre-Conceptual Design				Conceptual Design		Prelim And Final Design
Exploratory Development Stage		Advanced Development Stage		Engineering Development Stage		Capital Project Stage
Bench Scale Tests, Heat Transfer Analyses, Waste Chemistry	Gate 3	Construction And Operation Of A One-Half Scale Pilot Modular, Pre-Conceptual Design And Cost Estimate	Gate 4	Construction And Operation Of Full-Scale Hot Pilot Modular Unit, Conceptual Design Report	Gate 5	Full-Scale Operational Facility Design And Construction	Gate 6
7 Months	9/99	18 Months	04/01	36 Months	04/04	42 Months	10/07
$2 Million	$1.2 Million	$12.0 Million		$72 Million		$236 Million
Bench-Scale Test Apparatus. 16 Test Results With Varying Surrogate Waste Content Up To 80% And pH Values Up To 13.4 Were Obtained.		Cut-Away Of The RIC AVS Module Showing From Inside Out: Red Molten Glass, Light Gray Alumina Liner, Thin Wall Graphite Crucible, High Per-Formance Insulation In The SS Canister Surrounded By Coils.		Cut-Away Of Full-Scale, Single Module, Pilot Plant To Be Built Near A Waste Storage Tank To Demonstrate The Viability Of The AVS Concept With Real Tank Waste.		Conceptual View Of The RIC AVS Operating Facility Showing The Bridge Crane Transporting An AVS Module To A Fill And Melt Station. Facility Operating Rate: 4 Modules Per Day.

Programmatic Driver Criterion: Safety, Health, Environmental Protection, and Risk

Requirement

The research must present a solution that meets or exceeds current safety, health and environmental protection levels and meets or reduces the risk to the public, workers, and the environment during operation in comparison to baseline and alternative technologies.

Deliverables

The TD/PI must discuss how the research to date has demonstrated the likelihood that safety, health, and environmental protection levels will be maintained or exceeded and that risk to the public, workers, and the environment will be maintained or reduced.

Background

The baseline technology will be provided by FA/CC/IP in concert with the STCG and site.

FINDINGS

A study of the comparative features of the RIC AVS and the Baseline Large Central Vitrifier Systems has found that there is a potential for substantial improvements to Safety, Health, and Environmental Protection, and Risk from the following contributions:

Significant reduction in the radioactive footprint of the RIC AVS facility

Significant reduction to worker and environmental exposure because the clean-up campaign is reduced by nearly 3 decades.

The potential hazards extant at Hanford are mitigated much faster with the RIC AVS technology.

The RIC AVS's alumina and graphite liner in addition to providing the functionality for vitrification has the potential to qualify as an additional engineered barrier for long term geologic storage.

The outer steel liner stays near ambient temperature and thus is unaffected by the process heating. This feature is expected to result in a longer storage for the steel container.

Programmatic Driver Criterion: Stakeholder, Regulatory, and Tribal Issues.

Requirement

Stakeholder, regulator, and tribal issues associated with similar technologies have been identified and assessed.

Deliverable

The TD/PI must provide evidence that each of the issues associated with similar technologies under this driver criterion have been identified and assessed.

Background

The FA/CA/IP, with support from the STCGs and the sites, will provide input for these issues.

Requirement

Appropriate notification and permitting requirements must be identified.

Deliverable

The TD/PI must provide evidence that notification and permitting requirements for using the technology have been identified.

FINDINGS

Stakeholders and Regulatory Issues -- The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) implementing regulations require that Federal agencies consult with Federal, State, and local agencies and Tribes (as appropriate) regarding significant proposed actions at Hanford. The Tri-Cities Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which encompasses all of Benton and Franklin counties have stakeholder interest in significant proposed actions at Hanford. Other stakeholders are The Hanford Advisory Board, Hanford Health Effects Subcommittee, State of Washington Military Department Emergency Management Division, The Oregon Office of Energy, The Oregon Hanford Waste Board, The Hanford Health Information Network, The Hanford Health Information Archives, U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology), Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Transportation, Department of Health, The Washington State Governor's Office and Legislature, The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Indian Nation, The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Nation, The Nez Perce Tribe, and The Wanapum People, The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (future regulation), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (environmental protection), the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (future land management), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (endangered species protection), and 17 public interest groups.

Pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act, either DOE or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) serves as regulator for all radiological and nuclear safety regulation in the United States. The NRC currently has an advisory role at Hanford formalized by Memoranda of Agreement and Understanding between the DOE Assistant Secretaries for Environment, Safety and Health; and Environmental Management and the Director of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards of the NRC.

In general terms, the State and local stakeholder interests can also be described in terms of the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (Tri-Party Agreement) milestones.

Tri-Party Milestones -- The RIC AVS technology with its potential to accept a widely varying waste feed has potential to assist DOE in meeting the Tri-Party Agreement milestone schedules currently considered uncertain. The recognized uncertainties in the milestone schedule of the Tri-Party Agreement arise from problems in fully understanding tank waste characterization and waste loading. The RIC AVS technology's ability to achieve a higher percentage of waste loading (70-100%) than projected under the baseline (25%) could speed the potential vitrification campaign by decades. Also, its smaller processing facilities could be constructed on faster schedules than possible with the large central vitrifiers currently planned.

Lower Staffing -- Preliminary engineering projections for the RIC AVS technology show a significantly smaller on-site project staff numbering about a few hundred rather than approximately one thousand currently planned for the baseline high-level waste vitrification technologies. This lower staffing level causes uncertainties associated with the projection of future levels of non-TWRS Hanford Site employment and future overall employment in the Tri-Cities MSA. Future overall employment would be reduced with the RIC AVS technology, which will require smaller federal appropriations, but which will also have impacts on future Hanford Site employment, Tri-Cities MSA non-farm employment, population, taxable retail sales, and average home prices.

Environmental Protection -- The stakeholders concerned with environmental protection from radioactive and non-radioactive emissions will be served by the RIC AVS technology because of:

A smaller environmental impact (due to a small building footprint and a system which minimizes waste blending, pretreatment and spillage),

A faster vitrification campaign (which minimizes environmental risks due to tank leakage),

The low temperature steel container (which avoids the steel's physical deterioration from interaction with the hot glass), and,

The added engineered barrier of an integral graphite and alumina container capable of containment of the waste over geologic periods.

Radiological and Nuclear Safety -- The RIC AVS technology promises to enhance radiological and nuclear safety at Hanford.

Pretreatment Benefits -- The ability of the RIC AVS technology to accept high pH or caustic wastes without neutralization eliminates complex nuclear waste pretreatment and melter feed preparation that is required using the baseline technology. Similarly, the ability of the RIC AVS technology to accept a wide chemical variability of the waste feed, reduces the complexity of chemical pretreatment and melter feed preparation. Elimination of a waste pretreatment step and reduction in complexity of melter feed preparation, reduces the risk of radiological contamination and accidents attendant with this process step.

Process Benefits -- The RIC AVS technology eliminates a hot pour of melted glass and waste into the disposal canister currently anticipated using the baseline technology. The hot pour is a source of ex-canister contamination and a failure point that leads to high doses and additional contamination from repair, maintenance and cleanup. The hot pour is also a source of the impairment of the physical containment properties of the steel container. This source of radiological contamination and nuclear safety risk is eliminated using the RIC AVS technology.

Reliability Benefits -- The RIC AVS technology is projected to be more operationally reliable than traditional melter technology because the potential for a single point of failure that would cause a shut down in operations has been eliminated. A known radiological and nuclear safety risk with the baseline technology is operational reliability of the melter. The RIC AVS technology's improved operational reliability reduces risk of radiological contamination associated with maintenance and repair efforts.

Canister Minimization -- The ability of the RIC AVS technology to contain a high percentage of waste (70-100%) in each canister provides enhanced radiological and nuclear safety. Fewer final disposal canisters present less risk, and the higher waste loading reduces the emission of off-gases during the melting process.

Engineered Barrier --Finally, the RIC AVS technology maintains a separate high integrity inner container of graphite that has potential to remain intact for geologic periods. The second container provides a enhanced radiological containment and nuclear safety completely absent in the current baseline design. The graphite container also has added environmental benefits for containment of included toxic or hazardous substances.

Stakeholder Conclusion --For the foregoing reasons, stakeholder interest in Hanford should be well served by the RIC AVS technology in all cases except that a smaller work force and a faster cleanup campaign will diminish the flow of economic benefits to the local communities from nuclear waste clean-up activities. However, eliminating the threat of radiological contamination of the area's natural resources and fisheries will have major positive economic benefits for the state and the region.

Programmatic Driver Criterion: Commercial Viability

Requirement

A preliminary product concept has been defined.

Deliverable

The TD/PI must provide a discussion of the preliminary product concept.

Requirement

Invention disclosure and intellectual property issues have been identified and protected as appropriate.

Deliverable

The TD/PI must provide evidence that invention disclosures and intellectual property issues have been identified and protected as appropriate.

FINDINGS

The experimentation program for the RIC AVS technology confirmed its potential as an effective system for safe and economical vitrification of a wide variety of highly corrosive radioactive waste surrogate feeds. There are no "show stoppers" to the continued development of the RIC AVS technology. The modular, high operating temperature attributes of the RIC AVS technology create the potential for several applications that can be developed, for example:

a transportable single module processing unit for small batches

a module scaled for operations in a hot cell

a module with a different interior frit configuration to isolate plutonium, cesium or clad wastes

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