Ferrocyanide safety project task 3 ferrocyanide aging studies FY 1994 annual report

The research performed for this project is part of an effort begun in the mid-1980s to characterize the materials stored in the single-shell waste storage tanks (SSTs) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site. Various radioactive wastes from defense operations have accumulated at the Hanford Site in underground waste tanks since the early 1940s. The goal of the Aging Studies task is to understand the long-term chemical and radiolytic behavior of ferrocyanide tank wastes in the SST environments. In turn, this information provides baseline data that will be useful as actual SST samples are obtained and analyzed. The results of aging studies will directly assist in determining which strategy will assure safe storage of the ferrocyanide waste in the tanks and how the ferrocyanide safety issue can be resolved. This report contains the results of FY 1994 research for the Aging Studies task, which focused on the hydrolysis of ferrocyanide waste simulants in aqueous base. Hydrolysis was investigated in 2M NaOH as a function of temperature, applied gamma dose rate, and soluble Fe(CN)6-4 concentration. A hydrolysis experiment was conducted at pH 10 and another in the presence of aluminum. In addition, experiments investigating cesium ion exchange in competition with sodium nickel ferrocyanide dissolution were conducted