The effects of lead on multi-function waste tank facility carbon steels

Work previously reported in the literature suggests the presence of lead in boiling caustic can crack carbon steel. Further, most of the single-shell tanks presumed to be leakers contain lead from past fuel reprocessing work. While the Multi-Function Waste Tank Facility will be operating at temperatures far below those in which cracking occurred and the waste will have other components including inhibitors, there is a possibility that the lead concentration in some of the waste will exceed that found earlier to cause cracking. Consequently it is recommended that tests be performed on simulated wastes to better define the solubility and to determine whether cracking under proposed operating conditions is a serious concern. However, the experimental evaluation does not need to be performed immediately. The waste believed to have the largest lead concentration, B-Farm, is not shown in the current processing schedule which goes to the year 2011. The wastes scheduled for processing have less than about one-tenth of one percent of the lead concentration found in B-Farm