Organics in a Hanford mixed waste revisited: Myriad organics and chelator fragments unmasked

Abstract

The analysis of a highly radioactive mixed waste, a double-shell slurry (DSS-1) waste from the U.S. DOE's Hanford Site, originally published in 1988, yielded only a 1.2 % accounting of its total organic content (TOC), whereas the analysis of another mixed waste yielded 94.9 %. In this report, the reanalysis of DSS-2, which was carried out immediately, but previously unpublished, using an analysis scheme specifically adapted to the waste's physicochemical properties, is described. The TOC accounting climbed to 72.3 %, unmasking a complex mixture of semivolatile and hydrophilic organics, including numerous oxidation and/or degradation products. Reevaluation of the DSS-2 data now reveals the presence of several chelator fragments, including nitrosated species.

Department(s)

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-2126-y

Keywords

Chelating/complexing agents, Chelator/complexor fragments, GC/MS, Nuclear waste, Organic analysis

Publication Date

4-1-2013

Journal Title

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry

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