Data Quality Objectives for Tank Farms Waste Compatibility Program

One of the main functions of the River Protection Project is to store the Hanford Site tank waste until the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) is ready to receive and process the waste. Waste from the older single-shell tanks is being transferred to the newer double-shell tanks (DSTs). Therefore, the integrity of the DSTs must be maintained until the waste from all tanks has been retrieved and transferred to the WTP. To help maintain the integrity of the DSTs over the life of the project, specific chemistry limits have been established to control corrosion of the DSTs. These waste chemistry limits are presented in the Technical Safety Requirements (TSR) document HNF-SD-WM-TSR-006, Sec. 5.15, Rev 25 (CHG 2001). In order to control the chemistry in the DSTs, the Chemistry Control Program will require analyses of the tank waste. This document describes the Data Quality Objective (DQO) process undertaken to ensure appropriate data will be collected to control the waste chemistry in the DSTs.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency`s (EPA) Data Quality Objectives (DQO) process was applied to two environmental monitoring networks for the purpose of optimizing field quality control sampling to give the highest quality monitoring data with minimal impact on resources. The DQO process, developed primarily to aid in cleanup and restoration activities, is a systematic approach to designing sampling, and analysis programs with improved efficiency, cost savings, and measureable and traceable data quality. The two monitoring- networks studied had not been subjected to the systematic review and analysis of the DQO process defined by the EPA. The two monitoring networks studied had relied upon field duplicates or replicates as the main source of field quality control data. Sometimes, both duplicate and routine sample were analyzed by the same analytical laboratory; at other times they were analyzed by different laboratories. This study identified some potential inconsistencies between analytical data and reporting limits from two different laboratories. Application of the EPA DQO process resulted in recommendations for changes in the field quality control sampling program, allowed new insight into the monitoring data, and raised several issues that should be the subject of further investigation.

This document describes sampling and analytical requirements needed to meet state and federal regulations for dangerous waste (DW). The River Protection Project (RPP) is assigned to the task of storage and interim treatment of hazardous waste. Any final treatment or disposal operations, as well as requirements under the land disposal restrictions (LDRs), fall in the jurisdiction of another Hanford organization and are not part of this scope. The requirements for this Data Quality Objective (DQO) Process were developed using the RPP Data Quality Objective Procedure (Banning 1996), which is based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Guidance for the Data Quality Objectives Process (EPA 1994). Hereafter, this document is referred to as the DW DQO. Federal and state laws and regulations pertaining to waste contain requirements that are dependent upon the composition of the waste stream. These regulatory drivers require that pertinent information be obtained. For many requirements, documented process knowledge of a waste composition can be used instead of analytical data to characterize or designate a waste. When process knowledge alone is used to characterize a waste, it is a best management practice to validate the information with analytical measurements.

The Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) has adopted a data quality objective (DQO) process to define informational needs required to address waste tank safety issues. This document, the Organic Solvent DQO, provides a process to resolve the Organic Solvent Safety Issue. Organic solvents in the presence of air (a source of oxidizer) in a waste tank headspace can combust when heated to the flash point of the solvent. Separable phase organic liquids can form a combustible situation by being present as a pool on the waste surface, or by collecting in sufficient concentration entrained in the waste solids to form a combustible mixture at the waste surface by capillary or wicking behavior. Organic solvent combustion would result in an increase in pressure and temperature of the gas in the waste tank headspace. A significant pressure increase could result in the release of radionuclides and toxic materials to the environment. The Organic Solvent DQO is based on several technical documents, summarized and referenced throughout, that provide the technical bases for threshold values (decision limits) used to develop decision rules that address the problem statement. Likewise, this DQO supports characterization documents, such as the tank sampling analysis plan (TSAP) and tank characterization plan (TCP). The threshold values are based upon approved technical documents. Any changes to these technical documents will be reflected in subsequent changes to this DQO. This DQO applies to static organic waste as presently stored in single-shell tanks (SSTs) and double-shell tanks (DSTs). Waste undergoing retrieval, pretreatment, and processing are outside the scope of this DQO.

This Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP) is written for the radiological environmental air surveillance program for the DOE-SC PNNL Site, Richland Washington. It provides the requirements for planning sampling events, and the requirements imposed on the analytical laboratory analyzing the air samples. The actual air sampling process is in procedure EPRP-AIR-029. The rationale for analyte selection, media, and sampling site location has been vetted through the data quality objectives (DQO) process (Barnett et al. 2010). The results from the DQO process have been reviewed and approved by the Washington State Department of Health. The DQO process (Barnett et al. 2010) identified seven specific radionuclides for analysis along with the need for gross alpha and gross beta radiological analyses. The analytes are {sup 241}Am, {sup 243}Am, {sup 244}Cm, {sup 60}Co, {sup 238}Pu, {sup 239}Pu, and {sup 233}U. The report also determined that air samples for particulates are the only sample matrix required for the monitoring program. These samples are collected on 47-mm glass-fiber filters.

This report documents the evaluations was undertaken to establish the sampling and analysis requirements, for the Double-Shell Tank (DST) waste based on a review of the chemical composition of the waste mechanisms for chemistry change, and operations and waste transfers in the tanks. A sampling schedule, for the DST waste has been established previously and is documented in the Technical sampling Basis-Waste Information Requirements Document (TSB-WIRD). However, the TSB-WIRD was based on programmatic drivers for the collection of waste samples rather than on the specific needs of a chemistry control program. The focus of this evaluation is to ensure that the sampling requirements of the TSB-WIRD meet the needs of the DST chemistry control program defined in Tank Farms Technical Safety Requirements (TSR) Administrative Control (AC) 5.15, and to provide adjustments, if necessary, to those sampling requirements to account for known mechanisms for changes in chemistry of the tanks. DST waste composition data for nitrite, nitrate, and hydroxide was compiled from sample data and best basis liquid composition data extracted from the Tank Waste Information Network System (TWINS) database. Operations in the tanks up to January 1, 2001, were reviewed. Three free hydroxide depletion models were used to predict the future tank liquid hydroxide concentration over the next five year period and trend historical sample results where possible. This data was used as the method to provide priority to the sampling requirements provided in the TSB-WIRD. The effort looked at identifying those tanks that could become caustic deficient prior to the next scheduled tank specific sampling event, and recommended appropriate actions for those tanks that may not comply with the waste chemistry limits defined in AC 5.15.

This document of Data Quality Objectives (DQOs) was prepared based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidance on Systematic Planning Using the Data Quality Objectives Process, EPA, QA/G4, 2/2006 (EPA 2006) as well as several other published DQOs. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is in the process of developing a radiological air monitoring program for the PNNL Site that is distinct from that of the nearby Hanford Site. Radiological emissions at the PNNL Site result from Physical Sciences Facility (PSF) major emissions units. A team was established to determine how the PNNL Site would meet federal regulations and address guidelines developed to monitor and estimate offsite air emissions of radioactive materials. The result is a program that monitors the impact to the public from the PNNL Site.

This characterization report summarizes the available information on the historical uses, current status, and the sampling and analysis results of waste contained in underground storage tank 241-BY-104. This report supports the requirements of the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, Milestone M-44-09. Tank 241-BY-104 is one of 12 single-shell tanks located in the BY-Tank Farm in the 200 East Area of the Hanford Site. Tank 241-BY-104 entered service in the first quarter of 1950 with a transfer of metal waste from an unknown source. Through cascading, the tank was full of metal waste by the second quarter of 1951. The waste was sluiced in the second quarter of 1954. Uranium recovery (tributyl phosphate) waste was sent from tank 241-BY-107 during the second quarter of 1955 and from tank 241-BY-110 during the third quarter of 1955. Most of this waste was sent to a crib during the fourth quarter of 1955. During the third and fourth quarters of 1956 and the second and third quarters of 1957, the tank received waste from the in-plant ferrocyanide scavenging process (PFeCN2) from tanks 241-BY-106, -107, -108, and -110. This waste type is predicted to compose the bottom layer of waste currently in the tank. The tank received PUREX cladding waste (CWP) periodically from 1961 to 1968. Ion-exchange waste from cesium recovery operations was received from tank 241-BX-104 during the second and third quarters of 1968. Tank 241-BY-104 received evaporator bottoms waste from the in-tank solidification process that was conducted in the BY-Tank Farm 0247from tanks 241 -BY- 109 and 241 -BY- 1 12 from 1970 to 1974. The upper portion of tank waste is predicted to be composed of BY saltcake. Tank 241-BY-104 was declared inactive in 1977. Waste was saltwell pumped from the tank during the third quarter of 1982 and the fourth quarter of 1985. Table ES-1 and Figure ES-1 describe tank 241-BY-104 and its status. The tank has an operating capacity of 2,869 kL and presently contains an estimated 1,234 kL of noncomplexed waste. Of this total volume, 568 kL are estimated to be sludge and 666 kL are estimated to be saltcake. The Hanlon values are not used because they are inconsistent with waste surface level measurements, and they will not be updated until the tank level stabilizes and the new surface photos are taken. This report summarizes the collection and analysis of two rotary-mode core samples obtained in October and November 1995 and reported in the Final Report for Tank 241-BY-104, Rotary Mode Cores 116 and 117. Cores 116 and 117 were obtained from risers 5 and IIA, respectively. The sampling event was performed to satisfy the requirements listed in the following documents: Tank Safety Screening Data Quality Objective , Data Requirements for the Ferrocyanide Safety Issue Developed through the Data Quality Objective Process, Data Quality Objective to Support Resolution of the Organic Fuel Rich Tank Safety Issue, Test Plan for Samples from Hanford Waste Tanks 241-BY-103, BY-104, BY-105, BY-106, BY-108, BY-110, YY-103, U-105, U-107, U-108, and U-109.

The US. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) has initiated Phase 1 of a two-phase privatization strategy for treatment and immobilization of low-activity waste (LAW) currently being managed by the Hanford Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Project. In this strategy, DOE will purchase services from a contractor-owned and operated facility under a fixed price. The Phase 1 TWRS privatization contract requires that the Project Hanford Management Contract (PHMC) contractors, on behalf of DOE, deliver LAW feed in specified quantities and composition to the Privatization Contractor in a timely manner (DOE-RL 1996). Additional requirements are imposed by the interface control document (ICD-19) for LAW feed (PHMC 1997). In response to these requirements, the Tank Waste Remediation System Operation and Utilization Plan (TWRSO and UP) (Kirkbride et al. 1997) was prepared by the PHMC. The TWRSO and UP, as updated by the Readiness-To-Proceed deliverable (Payne et al. 1998), establishes the baseline operating scenario for the delivery of LAW feed to the Privatization Contractor. The scenario specifies tanks from which LAW will be provided for each feed batch, the operational activities needed to prepare and deliver each batch, and the timing of these activities. The operating scenario was developed based on current knowledge of waste composition and chemistry, waste transfer methods, and operating constraints, such as tank farm logistics and availability of tank space. A project master baseline schedule (PMBS) has been developed to implement the operating scenario. The PMBS also includes activities aimed at reducing programmatic risks. One of the activities, ''Confirm Plans and Requirements,'' was identified to verify the basis used to develop the scenario. Additional data on waste quantity, physical and chemical characteristics, and transfer properties will be needed to support this activity. This document describes the data quality objective (DQO) process undertaken to assme appropriate data will be collected to support the activity, ''Confirm Tank Plans and Requirements.'' The DQO process was implemented in accordance with the TWRS DQO process (Banning 1997) with some modifications to accommodate project or tank-specific requirements and constraints.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) owns, operates, and manages the buildings and land areas on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. As land and buildings are declared excess or underutilized, it is the intent of DOE to either transfer the title of or lease suitable property to the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET) or other entities for public use. It is DOE's responsibility, in coordination with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 4, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), to ensure that the land, facilities, and personal property that are to have the title transferred or are to be leased are suitable for public use. Release of personal property must also meet site requirements and be approved by the DOE contractor responsible for site radiological control. The terms title transfer and lease in this document have unique meanings. Title transfer will result in release of ownership without any restriction or further control by DOE. Under lease conditions, the government retains ownership of the property along with the responsibility to oversee property utilization. This includes involvement in the lessee's health, safety, and radiological control plans and conduct of site inspections. It may also entail lease restrictions, such as limiting access to certain areas or prohibiting digging, drilling, or disturbing material under surface coatings. Survey and sampling requirements are generally more rigorous for title transfer than for lease. Because of the accelerated clean up process, there is an increasing emphasis on title transfers of facilities and land. The purpose of this document is to describe the radiological survey and sampling protocols that are being used for assessing the radiological conditions and characteristics of building and land areas on the Oak Ridge Reservation that contain space potentially available for title transfer or lease. After necessary surveys and sampling and laboratory analyses are completed, the data are analyzed and included in an Environmental Baseline Summary (EBS) report for title transfer or in a Baseline Environmental Analysis Report (BEAR) for lease. The data from the BEAR is then used in a Screening-Level Human Health Risk Assessment (SHHRA) or a risk calculation (RC) to assess the potential risks to future owners/occupants. If title is to be transferred, release criteria in the form of specific activity concentrations called Derived Concentration Guideline Levels (DCGLs) will be developed for the each property. The DCGLs are based on the risk model and are used with the data in the EBS to determine, with statistical confidence, that the release criteria for the property have been met. The goal of the survey and sampling efforts is to (1) document the baseline conditions of the property (real or personal) prior to title transfer or lease, (2) obtain enough information that an evaluation of radiological risks can be made, and (3) collect sufftcient data so that areas that contain minimal residual levels of radioactivity can be identified and, following radiological control procedures, be released from radiological control. (It should be noted that release from radiological control does not necessarily mean free release because DOE may maintain institutional control of the site after it is released from radiological control). To meet the goals of this document, a Data Quality Objective (DQO) process will be used to enhance data collection efficiency and assist with decision-making. The steps of the DQO process involve stating the problem, identifying the decision, identifying inputs to the decision, developing study boundaries, developing the decision rule, and optimizing the design. This document describes the DQOs chosen for surveys and sampling efforts performed for the purposes listed above. The previous version to this document focused on the requirements for radiological survey and sampling protocols that are be used for leasing. Because the primary focus at this time is on title transfer, this revision applies to both situations.

The Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) is responsible for storing, processing, and immobilizing the Hanford Site tank wastes. Characterization information on the tank wastes is needed so that safety concerns can be addressed, and retrieval, pretreatment, and immobilization processes can be designed, permitted, and implemented. This document describes the near-term tank waste sampling and characterization needs of the Pretreatment, High-Level Waste (HLW) Disposal, and Low-Level Waste (LLW) Disposal Programs to support the TWRS disposal mission. The final DQO (Data Quality Objective) will define specific waste tanks to be sampled, sample timing requirements, an appropriate analytical scheme, and a list of required analytes. This interim DQO, however, focuses primarily on the required analytes since the tanks to be sampled in FY 1994 and early FY 1995 are being driven most heavily by other considerations, particularly safety. The major objective of this Interim DQO is to provide guidance for tank waste characterization requirements for samples taken before completion of the final DQO. The characterization data needs defined herein will support the final DQO to help perform the following: Support the TWRS technical strategy by identification of the chemical and physical composition of the waste in the tanks and Guide development efforts to define waste pretreatment processes, which will in turn define HLW and LLW feed to vitrification processes.

The purpose of this historical characterization document is to present the synthesized summaries of the historical records concerning the physical characteristics, radiological, and chemical composition of mixed wastes stored in underground double-shell tanks and the physical condition of these tanks. The double-shell tanks are located on the United States Department of Energy`s Hanford Site, approximately 25 miles northwest or Richland, Washington. The document will be used to assist in characterizing the waste in the tanks in conjunction with the current program of sampling and analyzing the tank wastes. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) developed computer models that used the historical data to attempt to characterize the wastes and to generate estimates of each tank`s inventory. A historical review of the tanks may reveal anomalies or unusual contents that could be critical to characterization and post characterization activities. This document was developed by reviewing the operating plant process histories, waste transfer data, and available physical and chemical data from numerous resources. These resources were generated by numerous contractors from 1945 to the present. Waste characterization, the process of describing the character or quality of a waste, is required by Federal law (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act [RCRA]) and state law (Washington Administrative Code [WAC] 173-303, Dangerous Waste Regulations). Characterizing the waste is necessary to determine methods to safely retrieve, transport, and/or treat the wastes.

The purpose of this waste analysis plan (WAP) is to document waste analysis activities associated with the Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility (WESF) to comply with Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 173-303-300(1), (2), (3), (4), (5), and (6). WESF is an interim status other storage-miscellaneous storage unit. WESF stores mixed waste consisting of radioactive cesium and strontium salts. WESF is located in the 200 East Area on the Hanford Facility. Because dangerous waste does not include source, special nuclear, and by-product material components of mixed waste, radionuclides are not within the scope of this documentation. The information on radionuclides is provided only for general knowledge.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of River Protection (ORP), is responsible for the remediation of the Hanford Site tank farms, including the 53 million gallons of highly radioactive mixed waste contained in 149 single-shell tanks (SST) and 28 double-shell tanks (DST). ORP manages the River Protection Project (RPP). Under the RPP, wastes retrieved from the tanks will be partitioned to separate the highly radioactive constituents from the very large volumes of chemical wastes that exist in the tanks. The volume of waste is the result of chemicals used in various Hanford Site processes, chemicals that were added to the tanks to reduce tank corrosion, and chemicals used in reprocessing and extraction of cesium and strontium. The highly radioactive constituents are to be vitrified, stored onsite, and ultimately disposed of as high-level waste (HLW) in the offsite national repository. The less radioactive chemical waste, referred to as low-activity waste (LAW), also would be vitrified and then disposed of onsite in trenches that comply with the Resource Conservation Act of 1976 (RCRA) and in compliance with DOE O 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management.

This report summarizes the predictive methods used to ensure that waste transfer operations in Hanford waste tanks do not create waste configurations that lead to unsafe gas release events. The gas release behavior of the waste in existing double-shell tanks has been well characterized, and the flammable gas safety issues associated with safe storage of waste in the current configuration are being formally resolved. However, waste is also being transferred between double-shell tanks and from single-shell tanks into double-shell tanks by saltwell pumping and sluicing that create new wastes and waste configurations that have not been studied as well. Additionally, planning is underway for various waste transfer scenarios to support waste feed delivery to the proposed vitrification plant. It is critical that such waste transfers do not create waste conditions with the potential for dangerous gas release events.