Glossary
amphoteric—
capable of reacting chemically either as an acid or as a base.
brownfield—
remediation of a contaminated site or facility to a level acceptable only for certain types of restricted industrial use with continuing institutional control and maintenance.
committee's reference scenario (committee's reference flowsheet)—
the remediation baseline developed by the committee which is somewhat analogous to the Hanford baseline scenario (flowsheet).
end state—
the final product of a waste processing, remediation, or management scenario characterized well enough in terms of chemical, physical, and radioactive attributes to allow details of scenarios to be specified.
flowsheet—
an outline that identifies the process step sequences at various levels of detail that are incorporated in a scenario leading to end states.
function—
a generalized description of an activity that effects the desired changes leading to end states (e.g., chemical engineering unit operations).
functional flowsheet—
a generalized description of processing operations (functions) used to demonstrate the transformation of initial radioactive wastes to end states.
greenfield—
remediation of a contaminated site or facility to a level acceptable for unrestricted future use.
Hanford baseline scenario (Hanford baseline flowsheet)—
the DOE Hanford baseline for remediation of the HLW tanks.
high-level waste (HLW)—
radioactive waste material derived from the first cycle of solvent extraction from processing of irradiated fuel, or equivalent material from other parts of the processing operations, and spent nuclear fuel (from 10 CFR 50).
low activity waste (LAW)—
incidental radioactive waste derived from removal of radionuclides from HLW and having properties similar to those described by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) in 10 CFR 61, but not under the jurisdiction of the USNRC.
low-level waste (LLW)—
radioactive waste not classified as high-level radioactive waste, transuranic waste, spent nuclear fuel, or byproduct material described by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) in 10 CFR 61.
process step—
description of the details of functions (processing operations) sufficient to identify applicable and required technologies.
risk—
the answer to three questions, ''What can go wrong?", "How likely is it?", and "What are the consequences?".
scenario—
a qualitative description of the transition path of waste from its initial state to a specified end state.
solid—
a material present in a liquid in excess of its solubility limit.
sludge—
a semi-solid, viscous, amorphous material that is substantially insoluble.
slurry—
a suspension of solids in a liquid.
technology needs—
new information on chemical, physical, and engineering processes required to successfully carry out a function or process step.