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WK78 Practice for Characterization of Radioactive And/Or Hazardous Wastes for Thermal Treatment

Date Initiated: 02-07-2003
Date Deletion Requested: 08-30-2006

1. Scope

1.1 This guide identifies methods to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of radioactive and/or hazardous wastes before a waste is processed at high temperatures, e.g. vitrification into a homogeneous glass ,glass-ceramic, or ceramic waste form. This includes waste forms produced by ex-situ vitrification (ESV), in-situ vitrification (ISV), slagging, plasma-arc, hot-isostatic pressing (HIP) and/or cold-pressing and sintering technologies. Note that this guide does not specifically address high temperature waste treatment by incineration but several of the analyses described in this guide may be useful diagnostic methods to determine incinerator off-gas composition and concentrations. The characterization of the waste(s) recommended in this guide can be used to (1) choose and develop the appropriate thermal treatment methodology, (2) determine if waste pretreatment is needed prior to thermal treatment, (3) aid in development of thermal treatment process control, (4) develop surrogate waste formulations, (5) perform treatability studies, (6) determine processing regions (envelopes) of acceptable waste form composition, (7) perform pilot scale testing with actual or surrogate waste, and/or (8) determine the composition and concentrations of off-gas species for regulatory compliance. The analyses discussed in this standard can be performed by a variety of techniques depending on equipment availability. For example, Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) can be used to measure the amount and type of off-gas species present. However, this standard assumes that such sophisticated equipment is unavailable for radioactive or hazardous waste service due to potential contamination of the equipment. The analyses recommended are, therefore, the simplest and least costly analyses that can be performed and still considered adequate.
1.2 This guide is applicable to radioactive and/or hazardous wastes including but not limited to, high-level wastes, High level waste (HLW) is used as a generic term that includes high level liquid waste (HLLW) and high level radioactive waste (HRW) low-level wastes, Low level waste (LLW) is used as a generic term that includes low level liquid waste (LLLW), low level radioactive waste (LLRW) and low activity waste (LAW) transuranic (TRU) wastes, hazardous wastes, mixed (hazardous and radioactive) wastes, heavy metal contaminated wastes, and naturally occurring or accelerator produced radioactive material (NARM or NORM) wastes. These wastes can be in the physical form of wet sludges, dried sludges, spent waste water filter aids, waste water filter cakes, incinerator ashes (wet or dry), incinerator blowdown (wet or dry), wastewaters, asbestos, resins, zeolites, soils, unset or unsatisfactory cementitious wastes forms in need of remediation, lead paint wastes, etc. and combinations of the above. This guide may not be applicable to piping, duct work, rubble, debris waste or wastes containing these components.
1.3 This guide references applicable test methods that can be used to characterize hazardous wastes, radioactive wastes, and heavy metal contaminated process wastes, waste forms, NORM wastes, and soils.