THE PROBLEM WITH ANIONS IN THE DOE COMPLEX

Weapons production and research and development operations at various U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites have left a huge legacy of environmental contamination and risk. The most glaring of these problems is the 3.4 x 105 m3 of high-level wastes stored in tanks at the Savannah River, Hanford, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, and Oak Ridge sites. The conversion of these tank wastes into stable waste forms for permanent disposition is arguably the largest environmental remediation effort ever undertaken. The management of anions in the wastes plays a critical role in processing these wastes. Anions can be hazardous in themselves, or they can complicate the waste-management process. The role of the following key anions in processing and immobilizing the DOE tank wastes will be discussed: phosphate, sulfate, chromate, and pertechnetate. This paper will also review work that has been done with actual wastes relevant to separating these anions