ORNL Surplus Facilities Management Program maintenance and surveillance plan for fiscal year 1984

Site characterization plan for groundwater in Waste Area Grouping 1 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

“…Continuous improvements and modifications to the ORNL waste management system eventually eliminated the need for most of the older tanks. Tanks W-l, W-2, W-3, W-4, W-13, W-14, and W-15 in the NTF were removed from service in the late 1950s or early 1960s (Coobs and Myrick 1986). The liquid waste was removed form the tanks when they were removed from service.…”

“…The large Gunite tanks in the STF were removed from service in the 2-6 late 1970s (Ccx_bs and Myrick 1986). Accumulated sludge precipitated from solution as well as residual solutions remained in these tanks until they were cleaned by sluicing in 1982 and 1983; however, some liquid and sludge remain (Weeren 1984;Coobs and Myrick 1986). The sluicing operation used a mixture of bentonite and water that was pumped from a feed tank through a sluicer nozzle to impinge on and resuspend the sludge in the tank being sluiced.…”

“…The WEF (Building 3506) was constructed in 1949 and housed the first liquid waste evaporator at ORNL (Manneschmidt and Witkowski 1962;Coobs and Myrick 1986). The facility received the LLLW streams from ORNL laboratories and other processing areas.…”

“…The concentrated waste was returned to storage in the Gunite tanks while the evaporated phase was discharged to the settling basin for mixing with the process waste stream. Subsequently, an experimental incinerator for radioactive wastes was located in the large cell, and experimental equipment was used to develop fission product purification processes (Horton 1984;Coobs and Myrick 1986). The buildingwent through extensive decontamination before its use as an incinerator facility.Most of the former process equipment was removed after the facility became inactive (Simpson 1984;Coobs and Myrick1986).…”

“…The Fission Product Pilot Plant, built in 1948, was first called the l°6Ru tank arrangement. It was used in the f'_ion product recovery development program for the separation of curie quantities of various radionuclides, including ruthenium, strontium, and cesium, from liquid waste (Horton 1984;Coobs and Myrick 1986). The waste came from the ORNL laboratories and from the Canadian Chalk River cleanup operation.…”