Tank 24-C-103 headspace flammability

Information regarding flammable vapors, gases, and aerosols is presented and interpreted to help resolve the tank 241-C-103 headspace flammability issue. Analyses of recent vapor and liquid samples, as well as visual inspections of the tank headspace, are discussed in the context of tank dynamics. Concern that the headspace of tank 241-C-103 may contain a flammable mixture of organic vapors and an aerosol of combustible organic liquid droplets arises from the presence of a layer of organic liquid in the tank. This organic liquid is believed to have originated in the plutonium-uranium extraction (PUREX) process, having been stored initially in tank 241-C-102 and apparently transferred to tank 241-C-103 in 1975 (Carothers 1988). Analyses of samples of the organic liquid collected in 1991 and 1993 indicate that the primary constituents are tributyl phosphate (TBP) and several semivolatile hydrocarbons (Prentice 1991, Pool and Bean 1994). This is consistent with the premise that the organic waste came from the PUREX process, because the PUREX process used a solution of TBP in a diluent composed of the n-C11H24 to n-C15H32 normal paraffinic hydrocarbons (NPH)