Standardized test methods for use in waste compliance testing in the Department of Energy's waste acceptance process

Producers of high-level waste forms will be required to demonstrate compliance with a number of acceptance specifications prior to disposal of their waste forms at a geologic repository. The Waste Acceptance Process was developed by the US Dept. of Energy (DOE) in 1985 to outline the documentation and activities required to ensure that waste forms used for the immobilization of high-level wastes from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel will be acceptable at any of the potential repositories. As part of this process, Waste Acceptance Preliminary Specifications (WAPS) have been developed for the borosilicate glass waste forms to be produced by the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) and the West Valley Demonstration Project. The West Valley WPAS [1] and the DWPF are essentially identical. These WAPS specify requirements that these waste forms must meet and documentation that must be supplied to the repository to which the waste will be sent. A number of WAPS requirements, such as those dealing with canister labeling and free-liquid within the canister, can probably be met through the use of administrative controls or literature data. For other requirements, testing will be needed. The purpose of this paper is to propose a set of tests for use in demonstrating compliance with the existing WAPS (both of which deal with glass waste forms). Some of these tests have been standardized. Others are undergoing standardization or are under development and may ultimately require standardization. The final decision about which tests will be appropriate for waste compliance testing will be made by the repository projects and the DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management