Pump Jet Mixing and Pipeline Transfer Assessment for High-Activity Radioactive Wastes in Hanford Tank 241-AZ-102

The authors evaluated how well two 300-hp mixer pumps would mix solid and liquid radioactive wastes stored in Hanford double-shell Tank 241-AZ-102 (AZ-102) and confirmed the adequacy of a three-inch (7.6-cm) pipeline system to transfer the resulting mixed waste slurry to the AP Tank Farm and a planned waste treatment (vitrification) plant on the Hanford Site. Tank AZ-102 contains 854,000 gallons (3,230 m3) of supernatant liquid and 95,000 gallons (360 m3) of sludge made up of aging waste (or neutralized current acid waste). The study comprises three assessments: waste chemistry, pump jet mixing, and pipeline transfer. The waste chemical modeling assessment indicates that the sludge, consisting of the solids and interstitial solution, and the supernatant liquid are basically in an equilibrium condition. Thus, pump jet mixing would not cause much solids precipitation and dissolution, only 1.5% or less of the total AZ-102 sludge. The pump jet mixing modeling indicates that two 300-hp mixer pumps would mobilize up to about 23 ft (7.0 m) of the sludge nearest the pump but would not erode the waste within seven inches (0.18 m) of the tank bottom. This results in about half of the sludge being uniformly mixed in the tank and the other half being unmixed (not eroded) at the tank bottom