ISDP Ends Year by Reaching Needed Process Attainment Rate
February 9, 2010
AIKEN, S.C. - Savannah River Remediation’s (SRR) Interim Salt Disposition Process (ISDP) made tremendous strides during 2009 removing salt waste from the 49 underground waste tanks at the Savannah River Site.
Removing salt waste, which constitutes 90 percent of the waste in SRS’s two tank farms, is a major step toward operationally closing the Site’s waste tanks.
During the year, continued system improvements and enhancements to such issues as a shorter cycle processing time and adjustments to temperature and chemistry mixes, have improved operations allowing for the attainment of the needed processing rate of 40,000 gallons processed a week at a maintained four to six gallons per minute cycle time.
“We want to use cutting-edge technology to empty and close waste tanks at SRS,” said Terrel Spears, Assistant Manager for Waste Disposition Project, DOE-Savannah River Operations Office. “The ISDP is an integral part of DOE’s strategy to accomplish this important task.”
Acknowledging the milestone, Jim French, SRR President and Project Manager, said, “What we have accomplished at the ISDP in the first six months of our contract will set the stage toward our commitment to close the 22 old-style waste tanks in our eight-year contract. Removing salt waste from the tanks is essential in our operations and achieving the necessary processing rate is huge for us.”
Since placed into operations in April 2008, the ISDP has processed 840,000 gallons of salt waste. The process achieved the 40,000 gallons a week processing rate twice since November 2009.
The ISDP is an interim salt disposition system designed to remove nearly all radioactivity from salt waste solutions prior to its transfer to the Site’s Saltstone Facilities, which safely stabilizes and disposes the waste. The ISDP is referred to as “interim” because it was designed to operate while the Site’s Salt Waste Processing Facility is being constructed.
SRS is owned by DOE. The SRS Liquid Waste contract is managed by SRR, a team of companies led by URS Corp. with partners Bechtel National, CH2M Hill and Babcock & Wilcox. Critical subcontractors for the contract are AREVA, Energy Solutions and URS Safety Management Solutions.
Media Contact: Rick Kelley (803) 208-1707 rick.kelley@srs.gov