By Maegan Murray, 黑料社 Tri-Cities

RICHLAND, Wash. 鈥� After seeing initial success in developing an ultra high-performance grout to potentially encapsulate solid secondary waste at the Hanford Site, (WRPS) is providing a Washington State University Tri-Cities professor and his research team with more than $300,000 to further the research.

The 黑料社 Tri-Cities team, led by civil engineering professor Srinivas Allena, is developing what is known as an ultra high-performance cementitious composite grout. The team鈥檚 final formulation will use industrial byproducts such as coal ash and steel slag that have the potential to reduce costs compared to commercially available and prepackaged high-performance grouts, while reducing the impact on the environment. The solid secondary waste it would encapsulate could include items such as used or broken equipment, contaminated tools and equipment that require stabilization and encapsulation prior to disposal.

WRPS is the 鈥檚 Tank Operations contractor responsible for managing Hanford鈥檚 56 million gallons of highly radioactive waste and preparing it for delivery to the . The organization provided the 黑料社 team last year with more than $140,000 to develop a grout to encapsulate solid secondary wastes from tank farms and future Waste Treatment Plant operations, and the team came up with several formulations. Now, the 黑料社 team is further optimizing those formulations to produce a cost-effective and sustainable grout formulation.

The end formulation has to be able to handle large physical stresses while proving resistant to rapid freezing and thawing cycles, low porosity and long-term durability.

For one of their formulations, Allena and his team showed success in replacing a typical ingredient in commercially available encapsulation grouts, known as silica fume 鈥� a byproduct from the silicon industry 鈥� with a substance known as fly ash, which is a remnant product from burning coal in thermal power plants. The fly ash, often a waste product, would serve as a cheaper and locally sourceable option, in addition to reducing the amount of coal-based ash that is sent to landfills or returned to coal mines for disposal.

For another formulation, the team plans to replace fine sand typically used in encapsulation grouts with locally-sourced, larger-particle sand, which would not require a sieving process. The removal of the sieving process saves on cost and previous results have shown that the large sand-containing formulation holds the needed strength and low porosity required for an encapsulation grout.

The technique, though promising, is in the proof-of-concept phase. Any future use at Hanford would still need to meet disposal criteria for any given waste stream and undergo regulatory approval and any applicable permitting processes.

鈥淲e鈥檙e repurposing waste products and also reducing the cost while ensuring and enhancing the durability properties required for an encapsulation grout,鈥� Allena said. 鈥淥ur initial testing has shown good results.鈥�

The team also plans to partially replace regular cement with blast furnace slag, which is a byproduct powder from steel industries. Using slag would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

鈥淐ement industries cause approximately 7 to 11 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide,鈥� Allena said. 鈥淐ement is made from the burning of limestone and leads to the release of a lot of carbon dioxide. Reducing the demand on cement by using slag will therefore reduce cement production and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.鈥�

Allena said if they are successful with their end formulation, their grout has the potential to be used in a variety of applications, such as bridge construction, and has large commercial potential.

 

Media contacts:

Srinivas Allena, 黑料社 Tri-Cities engineering faculty, 509-372-7161, srinivas.allena@wsu.edu

Jeffrey Dennison, 黑料社 Tri-Cities director of marketing and communication, 509-372-7319, Jeffrey.dennison@wsu.edu

Maegan Murray, 黑料社 Tri-Cities public relations specialist, 509-372-7333, maegan_murray@wsu.edu

By Maegan Murray, 黑料社 Tri-Cities

RICHLAND, Wash. 鈥� A federal project director from the U.S. Department of Energy will discuss how the Hanford waste treatment plant will immobilize radioactive waste by turning it into glass as part of a continuing lecture series from 3-4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, in the Washington State University Tri-Cities East Auditorium.

The presentation will be led by Jason Young, federal project director at the Office of River Protection鈥檚 analytical laboratory and balance of facilities office. The presentation is the fifth in a series of lectures focusing on the Hanford Site and is cohosted by 黑料社 Tri-Cities and the U.S. Department of Energy. The public is invited to attend.

During his presentation, Young also will describe how the 鈥渄irect feed low activity waste鈥� approach at the Hanford Site will enable treatment as soon as 2022. Additionally, he will outline the cooperative efforts needed to support their operations.

Young joined the Office of River Protection in 2008. He previously worked for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard as a shift test engineer in the nuclear engineering division and later served as the reactor plant technical expert for the radiological emergency planning division.

Young holds a bachelor鈥檚 degree in chemistry from Lander University and a master鈥檚 degree in chemical engineering from Montana State University.

 

Contacts:

• Tish Christman, 黑料社 Tri-Cities administrative assistant, 509-372-7683,聽christman@wsu.edu
• Maegan Murray, 黑料社 Tri-Cities public relations specialist, 509-372-7333,聽murray@wsu.edu