LANL Update Randy Erickson Associate Director for Environmental - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

EFCOG Meeting Waste Management 2016 LANL Update Randy Erickson Associate Director for Environmental Management Los Alamos National Laboratory March 10, 2016 LA-UR-16-21472 UNCLASSIFIED Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA UNCLASSIFIED | 1

Highest Priority: Nitrate Salts  Nitrate Salt Waste Activities – Safety and Compliance of the LANL waste inventory – Corrective Actions from accident investigations – Treatment UNCLASSIFIED Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA UNCLASSIFIED | 2

Nitrate Salt Waste: Robust Technical Basis Developed for Safe Storage and Treatment  Small-scale testing for thermal sensitivity Key Conclusions  Modeling and analysis • Thermal runaway possible at ambient • Potential mixtures of nitrate salts conditions in unvented drum. • Thermo-chemical behavior at drum scale • Risk of thermal runaway decreases  with time. Head space gas monitoring • Reducing temperature and eliminating • Temperature effects on reaction rate pressure prevents thermal runaway. • Declining reactions over time (due to depletion)  Full-scale drum tests Implications • Early-warning signatures of thermal runaway • After 20+ months of storage, thermal • Importance of gas phase chemistry and pressure runaway is extremely unlikely under stable ambient conditions. • Concerns remain about accident scenarios that could significantly increase the waste temperature by external heating. • Providing enhanced pressure relief adds an additional margin of safety. UNCLASSIFIED Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA UNCLASSIFIED | 3

LANS is implementing a two-pronged strategy to mitigate the remediated nitrate salt (RNS) risk. Integrated Project Team (DOE/LANS) is responsible for developing and enabling implementation of mitigation strategies • Strategy 1: Safely control the RNS environment (temperature and pressure) through engineered controls including wildland fire risk mitigation • Strategy 2: Treat the waste in the RNS drums to eliminate risk of thermal chemical reactions as soon as we can do so safely. UNCLASSIFIED Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA UNCLASSIFIED | 4

Corrective Actions to Prevent Recurrence and Support Treatment  LANL, WIPP and the Federal organizations have developed coordinated and integrated corrective actions  Many actions have already been taken or are in progress • Improvements in waste characterization Preliminary treatment plans developed • Robust procedure development • Testing nearly complete for the process to ensure effective technical basis and processing SME and management reviews variables for regulatory approvals • Formal Engineering Change • Treat the materials to eliminate the Control process hazards by mixing with zeolite • Technical Basis documentation UNCLASSIFIED Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA UNCLASSIFIED | 5

Path Forward: Safety, Urgency, Thoroughness, Alignment  Focus on expeditious risk mitigation strategies that are technically sound while maintaining safety during all evolutions.  Draw experienced resources from parent companies and across the Complex.  Leverage DOE/LANS Integrated Project Team to coordinate progress.  Assure full vetting through collaboration and peer review  Emphasize timely and meaningful communications to accommodate the number and diversity of stakeholders. UNCLASSIFIED Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's NNSA UNCLASSIFIED | 6