Student Abstracts: Engineering at INEEL

HANDSS-55. SAMUEL PETERSON (BYU, Provo, UT 84602) ROD SHURTLIFF (Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415) .
DOE facilities around the nation have in their possession low-level nuclear waste or transuaranic waste (TRU-waste). This TRU-waste is stored in thousands of 55-gallon drums. DOE facilities have been or are going to store TRU-waste into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), an underground repository licensed to safely and permanently dispose of transuranic radioactive waste left from the research and production of nuclear weapons. To prepare 55-gallon drums of TRU-waste manually is dangerous, timely, and costly. The Handling and Segregating System for 55-gallon Drums (HANDSS-55) provides an automated technology to process TRU-waste and mixed TRU-waste. HANDSS-55 opens 55-gallon drums and liners and prepares the waste inside these drums for shipment to WIPP. The technology incorporated in the HANDSS-55 is both automated and modular, allowing individual modules to be used with a multitude of other applications. The HANDSS-55 system performs four main processes: Automated Drum and Liner Opening (AD&LO), Process Waste Reduction (PWR), Waste Sorting, and TRU-Waste Repackaging. The system is still being developed and has not reached final stages. The AD&LO has been completed and tested very well. Testing on other sub-systems have also been done and led to many changes and enhancements, due to errors that occurred. Nevertheless, HANDSS-55 is doing well and is right on course to be deployed and functional in 2003.

Processing Variables of Alumina Slips and their Effects on the Density and Grain Size of the Sintered Sample. RYAN ROWLEY (Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602) HENRY CHU (Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415) .
High densities and small grain size of alumina ceramic bodies provide high strength and better mechanical properties than lower density and larger grain size bodies. The final sintered density and grain size of slip-cast, alumina samples depends greatly on the processing of the slip and the alumina powder, as well as the sintering schedule. There were many different variables explored which include initial powder particle size, slurry solids percent, amount and type of dispersant used, amount and type of binder used, and sintering schedule. Although the experimentation is not complete, to this point the sample with the highest density and smallest grain size has been a SM8/Nano mixture with Darvan C as the dispersant and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) as the binder, with a solids loading of 70 wt% and a 1500° C for 2 hours sintering schedule. The resultant density was 98.81% of theoretical and the average grain size was approximately 2.5*10^-6m.

Handling and Segregating System for 55-gallon Drums. SHARON ROWLEY (Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602) MICHAEL GIFFORD (Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415) .
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is a permanent storage facility for transuranic waste resulting from Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear research and development. Several DOE facilities will be and have been sending WIPP acceptable transuranic waste to WIPP. This waste is radioactive and thus a dangerous and slow process for humans to handle, so it is desirable to have a machine to semi-automatically prepare and sort WIPP compliant items. The machine being built to do this is the Handling and Segregating System for 55-gallons Drums (HANDSS-55). HANDSS-55 is a remotely-operated and remotely-maintained system that will open 55-gallon drums, including liners, and prepare the waste inside the drums for shipment to WIPP. HANDSS-55 will perform four main processes: drum and liner opening, waste sorting, waste repackaging, and process waste reduction. The numerous components of HANDSS-55 are in different stages of development and testing, and so far HANDSS-55 has been able to accomplish the desired tasks. The drum and liner opening system has completed testing and is ready to operate as part of the system. The fabricated waste sorting components have generally performed well, but enhancements are still being made. The repackaging system is scheduled for testing. The process waste reduction system is in the final design process. Any negative test results have been addressed and improved, or are in the process of being improved. The system is performing well, on schedule, and expected to be operation in 2003.