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Appendixes
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A p p e
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Appendix A
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interim Report
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Board on Radioactive Waste Management
November 2, 2000
Dr. Carolyn Huntoon
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management
U.S. Department of Energy
Washington, D.C. 20585
Dear Dr. Huntoon:
At your request, the National Research Council (NRC) empanelled a Committee,
to assist the Department in developing a long-range science plan for the management of
radioactive high-level waster (HLW) at Department of Energy (DOE) sites.3 Currently, the
Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP) provides DOE's Office of
Environmental Management (EM) "with basic research addressing fundamental issues
that may be critical to advancing technologies under development, but not yet
implemented."4 The NRC provides you with this interim report to help the EMSP develop
a request for proposals (REP) aimed towards HEW management that will be published in
the Federal Register by the end of this year.5 This report has been reviewed in
accordance with the procedures of the NRC6 and reflects a consensus of the Committee.
In addition to the Committee's expertise in relevant technical disciplines and
knowledge of DOE problems, several other sources of information were used to develop
this interim report. The Committee reviewed a previous NRC report on the EMSP,7 as
well as three other NRC reports relevant to high-level waste management at DOE
sites.8940 The Committee also held three information-gathering meetings to familiarize
itself with the problems at four major HEW sites:
~ Committee on Long-Term Research Needs on Radioactive High-Level Waste at
Department of Energy Sites. The roster for this Committee is given in Attachment A.
2 High-level waste is defined by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (1982) as the highly
radioactive material resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, including liquid waste
produced directly in reprocessing and any solid material derived from such liquid waste that
contains fission products in sufficient concentrations. This definition does not include DOE's spent
nuclear fuel.
3 The Committee's statement of task is given in Attachment B.
4 EMSP Program Description (2000). In Environmental Management Science Program.
[Online]. Available: http://emsp.em.doe.gov/description.htm [2000, May 31].
5 Congress has appropriated $37 million to EMSP in fiscal year 2001, including $10
million to fund new research projects. See H.R. 4635 Department of Veterans Affairs and
Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001.
6 The list of report reviewers is provided in Attachment C.
7 Building an Effective Environmental Management Science Program: Final Assessment
(National Research Council, 1997).
~ Research Needs in Subsurface Science: U.S. Department of Energy's Environmental
Management Science Program (National Research Council, 2000).
9 Alternative High-Level Waste Treatments at the Idaho National Engineering and
EnvironmentalLaboratory(National Research Council, 2000).
A An End State Methodology for Identifying Technology Needs for Environmental
Management, with an Example from the Hanford Site Tanks (National Research Council, 1999).
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20418 Telephone (202) 334-3066 Fax (202) 334-3077 national-
academies.org
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Dr. Carolyn Huntoon
November 2, 2000
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· Hanford, Washington,
· Idaho National Engineering and Environment Laboratory (INEEL),
· Savannah River, South Carolina, and
· West Valley Demonstration Project, New York.
During the first meeting, which was held on March 30-31, 2000 in Washington
D.C., DOE gave the Committee an overview of EMSP research activities and HLW
management problems at all of its sites. The second meeting was held in Richland,
Washington on June 12-14, 2000 to receive briefings from DOE-Richland Operations
Office, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and INEEL staff. During this meeting the
Committee also toured the Hanford Site. A third meeting was held in Augusta, Georgia
on August 28-30, 2000 to obtain information about the Savannah River Site and HLW
immobilization issues. Presentations from staff of the DOE Savannah River Office,
Westinghouse Savannah River Company, and West Valley Demonstration Project were
followed by a tour of the site. Thus far, the Committee has received complete
cooperation from DOE and has not been constrained in its information gathering efforts.
. . ~
The Committee also reviewed the portfolio of research projects supported by
EMSP since its inception in 1996.~, The information reviewed included project titles,
crincical investigator names and affiliations, as well as project abstracts. The purpose of
this assessment was to determine the range of research topics and issues being
addressed and also to begin the process of identifying potential research gaps. As of
fiscal year 2000, there are 306 research projects within the EMSP portfolio. Of these, 76
are categorized by EM under the "HLW problem area.", The other EM problem areas
are Decontamination and Decommissioning (D&D), Subsurface Contamination,
Health/Ecology/Risk, Mixed Waste, Nuclear Materials, and Spent Nuclear Fuels. A
complete analysis of the EMSP research portfolio by the Committee showed that there
are 92 projects closely related to HLW management problems even though some of
them appeared under different EM problem areas. All 92 projects were sorted into six
research fields related to HLW management (listed below) or as "other EMSP grants" if
they were not directly relevant to any of the research fields. Results are summarized in
Appendix D. Some of the projects may appear under more than one field because they
affect several phases of the HLW management process. The six research fields relevant
to HLW management are the following:
· characterization,
· waste retrieval,
· waste pretreatment,
· waste immobilization,
· tank closure, and
· in situ disposal.
~ J
~~ Environmental Management Science Program (2000). Multiple Criteria Search. In
EMSP Projects Database. [Online]. Available: http://emsp.em.doe.gov/portfolio/multisearch.asp
[2000, July 31].
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Dr. Carolyn Huntoon
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This approach follows the DOE baseline approach to HLW management characterize,
retrieve, pretreat, immobilize, and close the tanks and it includes the option of "in situ"
disposal for at least a fraction of the waste. In this context, the Committee's definition of
the "characterization research field" covers the characterization of HLW in the tanks and
in the near vicinity, characterization of waste during pretreatment and immobilization,
and characterization of the remaining HLW left in the tanks after retrieval. Spent nuclear
fuel is not considered HLW by DOE (see footnote 2~; therefore it was not addressed in
the report.
Based on the information gathered to date, the Committee has identified broad
research fields that would benefit from a basic science plan. The Committee does not
wish to circumscribe the investigators' creativity by giving a detailed list of research
projects. It is the role of the EMSP investigators to implement these broad
recommendations with proposals addressing specific issues within the research fields
outlined in this report. These recommendations are described in the following
paragraphs.
It is the judgment of the Committee that some HLW-related problems will require
further research and development to minimize risk and program cost and to improve the
effectiveness of cleanup. This preliminary analysis of the EMSP portfolio and the review
of the information gathered thus far has led the Committee to conclude that the REP
should solicit research projects in the following four fields, in rank order:
1. Long-term issues related to tank closure and characterization of
surrounding areas. The figure in Attachment D shows that EMSP has awarded 21
projects related to tank closure issues. Specifically, these projects are related to the
decontamination of HLW tanks and the characterization of soils around the tanks.
However, as noted by a previous National Research Council report,8 there appears to be
only a small number of projects addressing radionuclide and metal contamination
problems in the near-field around the tanks, as well as a lack of projects concerning
engineered surface or subsurface barriers. Moreover, very few projects are devoted to
the characterization of the HLW remaining in the tanks after retrieval. Therefore the
Committee reiterates the recommendation in the previous NRC reports to strengthen
research on these long-term issues. A few examples of research activities to address
these issues are: i) innovative subsurface characterization methods to achieve a more
effective remediation strategy, for instance using advanced imaging techniques,
ii) innovative technologies to remediate small "hot spots" in the ground, and iii)
characterization of the HLW remaining in or near the tanks after retrieval to facilitate tank
closure.
2. High-efficiency, high-throughput separation methods that would reduce
high-level waste program costs over the next few decades. The EMSP is supporting
a significant number of separation sciences projects in the pretreatment category
(Attachment D). These projects are mainly focused on understanding and controlling the
speciation of elements under alkaline conditions and developing different radionuclide
separation methods. However, there appears to be an insufficient focus on two important
goals: high-efficiency separation and the minimization of the volume of secondary waste.
The Committee recommends that the EMSP encourage proposals on separation
sciences that address these two goals. The projects should directly address all types of
separations: solids from liquids from gases, HLW from low-level waste, and
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radionuclides from organic compounds. In the Committee's opinion, such research
would help to minimize costs and improve the effectiveness of the cleanup effort. One
example of a project addressing separation issues could be research on processes that
remove multiple radionuclides in a single step.
3. Robust, high loading, immobilization methods and materials that could
provide enhancements or alternatives to current immobilization strategies.
Immobilization strategies involve both the immobilizing matrix and the immobilization
technology. DOE currently immobilizes its HLW in a borosilicate glass matrix using
slurry-fed electric (Joule) melters. In the Committee's opinion, borosilicate glasses may
not be the appropriate immobilization form for all DOE waste streams, in particular for
INEEL's calcined HLW and for secondary waste streams, from a risk and/or a cost point
of view.4243 The Committee encourages research on alternative immobilization matrixes,
tailored for either HLW or low-level waste, such as cements or crystalline ceramics.
Moreover, the use of Joule melters for making borosilicate glasses could limit the
processes available for different waste streams leading to less efficient immobilization
results. Hence, the Committee also encourages research on alternative melter
techniques.45
4. Innovative methods to achieve real-time, and, when practical, in situ
characterization data for HLW and process streams that would be useful for all
phases of the waste management program. The Committee is aware of the numerous
research projects relevant to the characterization field within the EMSP portfolio
(Attachment D). Over two dozen of these projects concern real-time and/or in situ
characterization techniques. However, most of the projects focus on the characterization
of waste in the tanks. Very few (five projects have been identified) address the problem
of characterization of the waste after retrieval, for instance the characterization of
process streams and melter feeds. The Committee recommends research in this area to
achieve shorter turn-around times for the analytical results, which would allow better
control of HLW processing. An example of such a project is research on fiber-optical
interrogation to characterize process streams.
Desired attributes of the EMSP research portfolio
In selecting the projects in this proposal cycle, the Committee believes that some
attention to the following programmatic recommendations is warranted:
. As noted by previous NRC reports,78 the research projects that are funded
should be focused on DOE's significant long-term problems to advance the state-of-
]2 Lutze, W., and R.C. Ewing. 1988. Radioactive Waste Forms for the Future.
Amsterdam: North-Holland Physics Publishing.
]3 Donald, I.W., B.L. Metcalfe, and R.N.J. Taylor. 1997. The immobilization of high-level
radioactive wastes using ceramics and glasses. Journal of Materials Science, vol. 32, 5851-5887.
]4 Cementation was one of the recommended alternatives to immobilize INEEL's calcined
waste; see reference 9, chapter 6.
]5 The recommendation of supporting research on alternative melter techniques was also
endorsed by two other NRC reports: Glass as a Waste Form and Vitrification Technology:
Summary of an International Workshop, (National Research Council, 1996) and reference 9.
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knowledge well beyond the next decade. One significant issue is the long-term
performance of materials used to immobilize HLW.46,7
. Because of its mission, the EMSP should promote "needs driven" or "mission-
directed" basic science supporting research on fundamental processes and phenomena
with potential high-impact results. Such projects should have a sufficient number of
single or dual-investigator teams that are exploratory and innovative, and that may use
non-conventional approaches possibly borrowed from other disciplines. This
recommendation was also endorsed by three previous NRC reports.49
. The EMSP should promote underlying science and technology parallel to
"baseline" or"programmatic" approaches to enable high-level waste management efforts
to be flexible in dealing with any unanticipated difficulties. A recent example of the
importance of these "contingency" research activities has been the necessity for rapid
identification of alternatives for separating cesium from HLW at the Savannah River Site
after the in-tank-precipitation process was abandoned because of technical difficulties.20
A considerable amount of time and money might have been saved if DOE, as far back
as the early 1 980's, had invested resources for research and development into
alternatives to tetraphenylborate (TPB) precipitation or to better understand the
mechanism of TPB decomposition.
. As recommended in two previous NRC reports,78 EMSP investigators should
interact with problem holders at the sites to learn about the nature of the problems to be
solved. In return, the problem holders might gain a better understanding of the scientific
gaps underlying the problems. The Committee therefore recommends that EMSP
identifies "liaisons" among the problem holders at the sites to communicate with the
investigators. The liaisons "will not only have the greatest knowledge about the sites but
will also be able to assist in integrating the results of EMSP into the long-term EM
effort.~57
At the half-way point in this study, the Committee is still debating a number of
issues so that it can fully address the statement of task. Although consensus has not
been reached on all issues, the Committee wishes to take advantage of this interim
report to inform DOE about some of the topics that are being debated. For instance, the
Committee recognizes the importance of R&D in contributing to a better understanding
and reduction of possible risks to the site workers and the public at large. At this point,
however, the Committee has not yet converged on the specific risk-related tasks that are
consistent with its understanding of the basic research element in the statement of task.
]6 Weber, W.J., R.C. Ewing, C.A. Angell, G.W. Arnold, A.N. Cormack, J.M. Delaye, D.L.
Griscom, L.W. Hobbs, A. Navrotsky, D.L. Price, A.M. Stoneham, and M.C Weinberg. 1997.
Radiation effects in glasses used for immobilization of high-level waste and plutonium disposition.
Journal of Materials Research 12(8):1946-1978.
]7 Weber, W.J., R.C. Ewing, C.R.A. Catlow, T. Diaz de la Rubia, L.W. Hobbs, C.
Kinoshita, Hj. Matzke, A.T. Motta, M. Nastasi, E.K.H. Salje, E.R. Vance, and S.J. Zinkle. 1998.
Radiation effects in crystalline ceramics for the immobilization of high-level nuclear waste and
plutonium. Journal of Materials Research 13(6): 1434-1484.
~8 In the Committee's view, basic science is defined as research that creates new generic
knowledge and is focused on long-term, rather than short-term, problems. See also reference 8,
page 1 3.
~9 See reference 7, page 3; reference 8, page 117; and Allocating Federal Funds For
Science and Technology, pages 76-79 (National Research Council, 1995).
20 More details are available in the NRC report Alternatives for High-Level Waste Salt
Processing at the Savannah River Site (National Research Council, 2000).
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The Committee is cognizant of the fact that the REP planned for the end of this
calendar year cannot immediately fulfill all of these essential attributes, but the EMSP
should continue its endeavors to develop a portfolio having the attributes discussed in
this letter. The Committee will hold two more meetings to discuss further the issues
identified in this report and will develop more detailed findings and recommendations.
The Committee hopes to issue its final report by June 2001.
Sincerely yours,
Michael Corradini
Chair
Attachment A: Committee Roster
Attachment B: Statement of Task
Attachment C: List of Reviewers
Attachment D: Committee's Analysis of the EMSP Portfolio
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Attachment A
ATTACHMENT A
COMMITTEE ROSTER
COMMITTEE ON LONG-TERM RESEARCH NEEDS FOR HIGH-LEVEL WASTE AT
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SITES
MICHAEL CORRADINI, Chair, University of Wisconsin, Madison
DAVID CAMPBELL, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (retired), Oak Ridge, Tennessee
MICHELINE DRAYE, Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie de Paris, Paris, France
CHARLES DRUMMOND, III, Ohio State University, Columbus
PETER HAYWARD, Eutechnics Consulting, Inc., Pinawa, Manitoba, Canada
LINN HOBBS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
EDWARD LAHODA, Westinghouse Science and Technology Department, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
ROBIN ROGERS, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
BEN STERNBERG, University of Arizona, Tucson
EDWI N ZEBROSKI, Elgis Consutling, Inc., Los Altos, California
Board on Radioactive Waste Management Liaison
ROBERT M. BERNERO, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (retired), Gaithersburg,
Maryland
Staff
BARBARA PASTINA, Study Director
LAURA LLANOS, Senior Project Assistant
MATTHEW BAXTER-PARROT, Project Assistant
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Attachment B
ATTACHMENT B
STATEMENT OF TASK
COMMITTEE ON LONG-TERM RESEARCH NEEDS FOR HIGH-LEVEL WASTE AT
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SITES
The objective of this study is to provide recommendations to the U.S. Department
of Energy's Environmental Management Science Program on the development of a long-
term basic research agenda to address high-level waste problems at Department of
Energy sites. The study will accomplish the following:
· Identify significant high-level waste problems that cannot be addressed
effectively with current technologies.
· Recommend areas of research where the Environmental Management
Science Program can make significant contributions to solving these problems and
adding to scientific knowledge generally.
In recommending specific areas of research, the Committee should take into
account, where possible, the agendas of other high-level waste-related research
programs.
The Committee may also consider and make recommendations, as appropriate,
on the processes by which (1 ) future research needs can be identified and (2) successful
research results can be applied to the Department of Energy's high-level waste
problems.
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Attachment C
ATTACHMENT C
LIST OF REVIEWERS
This letter report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their
diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved
by the National Research Council's (NRC's) Report Review Committee. The purpose of
this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the
institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the
report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the
study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect
the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for
their participation in the review of this report:
Dr. John F. Ahearne, Sigma Xi and Duke University
Mr. Philip Clark, GPU Nuclear Corporation (retired)
Dr. Rodney C. Ewing, University of Michigan
Dr. Jane C.S. Long, University of Nevada
Dr. Juan Carlos Santamarina, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Alfred P. Sattelberger, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Dr. D. William Tedder, Georgia Institute of Technology
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments
and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations,
nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report
was overseen by George Hornberger, appointed by the Commission on Geosciences,
Environment, and Resources, who was responsible for making certain that an
independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with N RC
procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for
the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the NRC.
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Attachment D
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ATTACHMENT D
COMMITTEE'S ANALYSIS OF THE EMSP PORTFOLIO
1 _ ~
Spent Nuclear Fuel
Health/Ecology/Risk
Subsurface Contamination
Nuclear Materials
D&D
Mixed Waste
High-Level Waste
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Research Fields
22_
owl
Number of projects awarded by EMSP since 1996 sorted into HLW-related
research fields. The column "Other EMSP grants" includes grants that are not directly
related to the management of HEW. Some projects may appear in more than one
research field. The legend refers to the seven EM problem areas. Source: EMSP Online
(see reference 1 1~.
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107
Representative terms from entire chapter:
carolyn huntoon
