PNNL

Abstract

The primary objective of this work is to enable in-tank sludge washing and delivery of the initial feeds to the Hanford High Level Waste vitrification facility, focusing on the 241-AN-106 waste feeds that are present in the Southeast quadrant of the Hanford site. As part of this effort, we have developed computational tools to determine the particle size distributions for specific phases within these wastes. Automated Particle Analysis (APA) combines Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) to characterize tens of thousands of individual particles and so provides a more representative view of the samples than manual analysis. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) statistic was employed to show size separation of gibbsite particles between at different positions within the 241-AN-106 column.