Ferrocyanide safety program: Updated thermal analysis model for ferrocyanide tanks with application to Tank 241-BY-104

摘要

During the middle to late 1950's, a program was begun to concentrate the radioactive waste products of the uranium and plutonium recovery processes. This program used sodium nickel ferrocyanide to precipitate radioactive cesium from the waste streams. The precipitate was then stored in large, underground single-shell tanks at the Hanford Site in south central Washington. Several of the tanks have been stabilized, a process that included removing as much pumpable liquid as possible from the tanks. This liquid contained heat-producing radionuclides. Because of the many transfers involved, the lack of accurate inventory data for the various waste streams, and the absence of a need for an accurate value of the heat load, the heat loads of the ferrocyanide waste storage tanks have only been estimated. As a result of the intense radiation field within these tanks, the chemical content of the waste has changed. This, coupled with the fact that the characteristics of the input waste were not well known, has resulted in uncertainty in the thermal characteristics of the stored sludge. All of these parameters are needed to evaluate the safety of these tanks. The purposes of this report are to document the updated thermal analysis model for ferrocyanide tanks and to use the model to determine the heat load of Tank 241-BY-104. This new model utilizes several new parameters and a new technique, which are described in this report. The new model is considered more accurate than the previous model, and all future thermal analyses of ferrocyanide tanks will use this updated model.