Flammable gas tank safety program: Technical basis for gas analysis and monitoring

Abstract

Flammable gases generated in radioactive liquids. Twenty-five high level radioactive liquid waste storage tanks located underground at the Hanford Site are on a Flammable Gas Watch List because they contain waste which tends to retain the gases generated in it until rather large quantities are available for sudden release to the tank head space; if a tank is full it has little dome space, and a flammable concentration of gases could be produced--even if the tank is ventilated. If the waste has no tendency to retain gas generated in it then a continual flammable gas concentration in the tank dome space is established by the gas production rate and the tank ventilation rate (or breathing rate for unventilated tanks); this is also a potential problem for Flammable Gas Watch List tanks, and perhaps other Hanford tanks too. All Flammable Gas Watch List tanks will be fitted with Standard Hydorgen Monitoring Systems so that their behavior can be observed. In some cases, such as tank 241-SY-101, the data gathered from such observations will indicate that tank conditions need to be mitigated so that gas release events are either eliminated or rendered harmless. For example, a mixer pump was installed in tank 241-SY-101; operating the pump stirs the waste, replacing the large gas release events with small releases of gas that are kept below twenty-five percent of the lower flammability limit by the ventilation system. The concentration of hydrogen measured in Hanford waste tanks is greater than that of any other flammable gas. Hydrogen levels measured with a Standard Hydrogen Monitoring System in excess of 0.6 volume percent will cause Westinghouse Hanford Company to consider actions which will decrease the amount of flammable gas in the tank