| Abstract: | Reduction of the existing nuclear waste in the Melton Valley Storage Tanks (MVSTs) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is of utmost concern to the scientists at this facility. This paper provides proof that a combination of vault heating, sparged air heating, and prevention of condensation is the best alternative to achieve this goal. Therefore, in this study a general system of mathematical equations has been developed taking into account all of the parameters affecting evaporation and condensation. This evaporation process has been analyzed by the careful modeling of a bubble chain through the extremely viscous, radioactive liquid contained in the storage tanks. This paper discusses in detail the evaporation procedure using bubble formation, air velocity, and determining the rate at which this liquid waste can be removed from the MVSTs by evaporation under different conditions of the sparging air. An additional objective is to study the heating/cooling of the condensation process of the off-gas piping inside the vault. A laboratory scale model has also been assembled for this purpose at ORNL to verify the accuracy of the mathematical modeling. A comparison of the experimental findings with the mathematical modeling shows excellent agreement. |
