Quarterly report on ferrocyanide safety program for the period ending December 31, 1993

Abstract

This is the eleventh quarterly report on the progress of activities addressing safety issues associated with Hanford Site high-level radioactive waste tanks that contain ferrocyanide compounds. In the presence of oxidizing materials, such as nitrates or nitrites, ferrocyanide can be made to explode in the laboratory by heating to high temperatures [above 285{degree}C (545{degree}F)]. In the mid 1950s, approximately 140 metric tons of ferrocyanide were added to waste now stored in underground high-level radioactive waste tanks. An implementation plan (Cash 1991) responding to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Recommendation 90-7 (FR 1990) was issued in March 1991 describing the activities that were planned and underway to address each of the six parts of Recommendation 90-7. A revision to the original plan (Borsheim et al. 1992) was transmitted to the US Department of Energy by Westinghouse Hanford Company in December 1992, and subsequently to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in 1993. The implementation plan was updated and revised this quarter and re-released as the ferrocyanide safety program plan (Borsheim et al, 1993a). The program plan still addresses the six parts of Recommendation 90-7; however, it also includes all work in the Ferrocyanide Safety Program. This quarterly report is reported against the new program plan.