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Title: Calculation of combustible waste fraction (CWF) estimates used in organics safety issue screening

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/290896· OSTI ID:290896

This report describes how in-tank measurements of moisture (H{sub 2}O) and total organic carbon (TOC) are used to calculate combustible waste fractions (CWF) for 138 of the 149 Hanford single shell tanks. The combustible waste fraction of a tank is defined as that proportion of waste that is capable of burning when exposed to an ignition source. These CWF estimates are used to screen tanks for the organics complexant safety issue. Tanks with a suitably low fraction of combustible waste are classified as safe. The calculations in this report determine the combustible waste fractions in tanks under two different moisture conditions: under current moisture conditions, and after complete dry out. The first fraction is called the wet combustible waste fraction (wet CWF) and the second is called the dry combustible waste fraction (dry CWF). These two fractions are used to screen tanks into three categories: if the wet CWF is too high (above 5%), the tank is categorized as unsafe; if the wet CWF is low but the dry CWF is too high (again, above 5%), the tank is categorized as conditionally safe; finally, if both the wet and dry CWF are low, the tank is categorized as safe. Section 2 describes the data that was required for these calculations. Sections 3 and 4 describe the statistical model and resulting fit for dry combustible waste fractions. Sections 5 and 6 present the statistical model used to estimate wet CWF and the resulting fit. Section 7 describes two tests that were performed on the dry combustible waste fraction ANOVA model to validate it. Finally, Section 8 presents concluding remarks. Two Appendices present results on a tank-by-tank basis.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
290896
Report Number(s):
PNNL-11930; R&D Project: 25395; ON: DE98058233; BR: N/A; TRN: 99:002139
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Aug 1998
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English