The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) High-Level Waste (HLW) Program is responsible for storage, treatment, and immobilization of HLW for disposal. The Salt Processing Program (SPP) is the salt (soluble) waste treatment portion of this effort. The overall SPP encompasses the selection, design, construction and operation of treatment technologies to prepare the salt waste feed material for the site’s Saltstone Facility and vitrification facility (Defense Waste Processing Facility). Major constituents that must be removed from the salt waste include actinides, strontium, cesium, and entrained sludge. In fiscal year (FY) 2002, research and development (R&D) on the actinide and strontium removal and Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction (CSSX) processes transitioned from technology development for baseline process selection to providing input for conceptual design of the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), a key component at the SRS SPP. This work included laboratory studies, bench-scale tests, and prototype equipment development. To implement the salt waste treatment technologies, DOE initiated a competitive procurement process to select Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractors for design of the SWPF. The Department awarded EPC contracts to Parsons Infrastructure & Technology Group, Inc. and Foster Wheeler USA Corporation for preparation of conceptual designs (Phase I) for the SWPF. The two EPC contractors began conceptual design activities in September 2002 and are scheduled to complete this work in January 2004. After evaluation of the conceptual designs, DOE will down select one EPC contractor to continue with final design, construction, and hot commissioning (Phase II). Hot startup of the SWPF is targeted for December 2009.
MATERIAL COMPATIBILITY OF ELASTOMERS USED IN THE SALT WASTE PROCESSING FACILITY(SWPF)
