Waste tank ventilation rates measured with a tracer gas method

Abstract

Passive ventilation with the atmosphere is used to prevent accumulation of waste gases and vapors in the headspaces of 132 of the 177 high-level radioactive waste Tanks at the Hanford Site in Southeastern Washington State. Measurements of the passive ventilation rates are needed for the resolution of two key safety issues associated with the rates of flammable gas production and accumulation and the rates at which organic salt-nitrate salt mixtures dry out. Direct measurement of passive ventilation rates using mass flow meters is not feasible because ventilation occurs va multiple pathways to the atmosphere (i.e., via the filtered breather riser and unsealed tank risers and pits), as well as via underground connections to other tanks, junction boxes, and inactive ventilation systems. The tracer gas method discussed in this report provides a direct measurement of the rate at which gases are removed by ventilation and an indirect measurement of the ventilation rate. The tracer gas behaves as a surrogate of the waste-generated gases, but it is only diminished via ventilation, whereas the waste gases are continuously released by the waste and may be subject to depletion mechanisms other than ventilation. The fiscal year 1998 tracer studies provide new evidence that significant exchange of air occurs between tanks via the underground cascade pipes. Most of the single-shell waste tanks are connected via 7.6-cm diameter cascade pipes to one or two adjacent tanks. Tracer gas studies of the Tank U-102/U-103 system indicated that the ventilation occurring via the cascade line could be a significant fraction of the total ventilation. In this two-tank cascade, air evidently flowed from Tank U-103 to Tank U-102 for a time and then was observed to flow from Tank U-102 to Tank U-103.