High-Level Waste Characterization and Process Monitoring Technology Development Activities in Response to the DOE 2006 Plan

Abstract

The Department of Energy (DOE) 2006 Plan aims at greatly reducing the cost and risk associated with cleanup activities. The Plan Vision is to clean up most of the DOE’s contaminated sites and transition them into various land use categories by the end of year 2006; waste will either be contained or removed, treated, and disposed. However, recent submittals of DOE site plans for cleaning up individual waste sites indicated that high-level waste remediation at the DOE Richland and Savannah River sites would not be completed until 2048 and 2070, respectively. These site plans were formulated under a high funding scenario, but without considering the performance enhancement goals targeted by the DOE. Most significantly, the plans stated that sixty percent of the life-cycle costs for cleanup would be incurred after 2006. Of the cleanup costs after 2006, the largest portion, or seventy-nine percent, relates to high-level waste remediation. Therefore, major opportunities exist to develop cost-effective technologies that address high-level waste problems and could have a lasting impact on DOE life-cycle cleanup costs. Because of the intractable properties and complex chemistries inherent in high-level waste, technical challenges lie ahead in developing and deploying technologies to accelerate resolution of the problems. This paper presents, for high-level waste characterization and process monitoring, an assessment of technology needs, a review of technologies developed or being developed to meet those needs, and out-year strategies for achieving the 2006 Plan Vision.