“SUMMARY OF DECEMBER 9, 2020, WEBINAR CALL RELATED TO EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED BY THE SAVANNAH RIVER ECOLOGY LABORATORY AND THE CENTER FOR NUCLEAR WASTE REGULATORY ANALYSES TO SUPPORT TANK FARM CLOSURE AT THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE”
Report from US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, dated January 26, 2021:
https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber=ML21034A000
“On December 9, 2020, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) held a webinar on research related to the closure of high-level waste tanks at
the Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, SC. The webinar included NRC contractors from the
Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses (CNWRA) and DOE contractors from
Savannah River Remediation (SRR) and Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL). The
purpose of the webinar was for NRC and DOE contractors to discuss experimental details
related to ongoing research conducted by the CNWRA and SREL related to aqueous and solid
phase characterization of tank grout and in particular the ability of reducing tank grout to
condition infiltrating groundwater to maintain low solubility of key radionuclides in the tank
waste.”
See full report linked above, which raises questions about the stability of grout (concrete) poured into mostly empty SRS high-level waste tanks. Tanks are being filled and left in place, to degrade over time.
