Stored Liquid Waste Remediation Program, Phase 1, at Chalk River Laboratories

Abstract

Liquid intermediate- and high- level radioactive wastes presently stored in 21 tanks at the Chalk River Laboratories are being retrieved, conditioned and consolidated into a new storage system. The Liquid Waste Transfer & Storage Project is responsible for designing, constructing and commissioning the storage system, specifying and procuring retrieval and transfer equipment and developing operating, maintenance and training procedures and materials. The project has characterized the existing wastes and completed an inspection of the present storage tanks and vaults. The design has progressed to include a criticality safety assessment, a safeguards analysis, selection of retrieval and transfer technologies, and conceptual design of the new storage system. A Request for Proposal for the new storage system has been issued. A second specification, combining the remaining systems to be procured, is in preparation. The transfer and collection of wastes from these 21 tanks will be a significant step towards achieving a long-term management solution for the wastes.


This paper provides an overview of the development of the conceptual design, including the new storage system, the retrieval system and the transfer systems, the laboratory program that supports the blending sequence and waste conditioning, and the tank and vault inspection task.