A literature review of mixed waste components: Sensitivities and effects upon solidification/stabilization in cement-based matrices

Abstract

The US DOE Oak Ridge Field Office has signed a Federal Facility Compliance Agreement (FFCA) regarding Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) mixed wastes subject to the land disposal restriction (LDR) provisions of the Resource conservation and Recovery Act. The LDR FFCA establishes an aggressive schedule for conducting treatability studies and developing treatment methods for those ORR mixed (radioactive and hazardous) wastes listed in Appendix B to the Agreement. A development, demonstration, testing, and evaluation program has been initiated to provide those efforts necessary to identify treatment methods for all of the wastes that meet Appendix B criteria. The program has assembled project teams to address treatment development needs in a variety of areas, including that of final waste forms (i.e., stabilization/solidification processes). A literature research has been performed, with the objective of determining waste characterization needs to support cement-based waste-form development. The goal was to determine which waste species are problematic in terms of consistent production of an acceptable cement-based waste form and at what concentrations these species become intolerable. The report discusses the following: hydration mechanisms of Portland cement; mechanisms of retardation and acceleration of cement set-factors affecting the durability of waste forms; regulatory limits as they apply to mixedmore » wastes; review of inorganic species that interfere with the development of cement-based waste forms; review of radioactive species that can be immobilized in cement-based waste forms; and review of organic species that may interfere with various waste-form properties.« less