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MAY 2021    |   SRNS TODAY   |   3






























          A train engine pushes a burial box full of failed equipment from H Canyon to the Solid Waste Management Facility for disposal. The equipment is being removed to make
          way for a new H Canyon spent nuclear fuel dissolving campaign.
        H Canyon makes room for



        new dissolver and new mission





              RNS employees are preparing for an upcoming campaign    Engineering provided support to this effort by designing and
              to dissolve stainless-steel clad spent nuclear fuel by   retrofitting the cutter and grapple controls to allow for operators to
        S disposing of old equipment to make room for the installation   utilize the H Canyon Hot Crane to remotely operate these tools. These
        of a new dissolver and an additional double-sized tank for dissolved   tools will be used to remotely reduce the size of jumpers and other
        material storage.                                       large failed equipment to maximize the amount of equipment loaded
        “The upcoming dissolving campaign will add a third electrolytic   into a burial box.
        dissolver to the complement of equipment already in use in the   “We will be better protecting our workers through the use of this
        canyon and will provide the capability to dissolve stainless steel fuel,”   equipment, since the material will be cut remotely instead of in person
        said SRNS Senior Vice President of Environmental Management   by employees,” said Brown. “While this equipment was specifically
        (EM) Operations Wyatt Clark. “The current chemical dissolvers are   purchased for the upcoming dissolving campaign, we will be able to
        designed to dissolve aluminum-clad fuel, so they are not adequate to   utilize it for future missions as well.”
        support the upcoming mission.”
                                                                Preparations for the new campaign also include preparing and
        A significant deactivation and removal campaign is underway to   calibrating the double-sized tank and new dissolver with the use of
        prepare for the mission. Timely and safe disposition of legacy   a bladder tank and pump system. The use of the bladder tank and
        equipment is essential to keep the project on schedule. H Canyon   pump system speeds up the calibration process by pumping water
        recently completed removing the first of three shipments of legacy   versus using a domestic water hose to fill the 50- and 150-gallon
        equipment to make room for this new campaign.           prover tanks, which are vessels used to add a specific volume
        “When jumpers or other H Canyon equipment fails and needs to   of water to the tanks being calibrated. Once a calibration run is
        be replaced, the failed equipment is placed in a large engineered   complete, the water is pumped from the vessel back to the bladder
        container called a burial box, using the canyon remote cranes,” SRNS   tank, using recycled water instead of fresh water for each of the four
        Project Manager for EM Operations Richard Brown said. “Once that   minimum calibration runs per vessel.
        box is full, we secure the package, verify it is free of any radioactive   The stainless-steel clad fuel is currently stored in SRS’ K Area and will
        contamination and transfer it to the SRS Solid Waste Management   be shipped to the canyon for processing. Once the fuel is dissolved
        Facility for disposal.”                                 in the electrolytic dissolver, the resulting solution will be transferred
        In an effort to minimize the number of burial boxes required to   to the liquid waste tank farms. The material will then be transferred to
        remove the failed equipment, SRNS purchased a size reduction tool   the Defense Waste Processing Facility where it will be made into glass
        (i.e., cutter) and grapple system. SRNL Research and Development   and placed in an SRS storage facility for interim storage.
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