ABSTRACT
Approximately 130 million liters of high-level nuclear wastes (HLW) are stored in 49 underground carbon steel tanks at the Savannah River Site (SRS). About 9% (11 million liters) of the waste consists of precipitated metal oxides and hydroxides resulting from caustic additions to acidic waste solutions produced from fuel reprocessing and other operations at the site. e precipitated solids, referred to as sludge, contain about 60% of the radioactivity and settle to the bottom of the HLW storage tanks. e remaining volume of HLW is stored as concentrated liquid and saltcake produced from evaporation of the waste solutions. is fraction of the HLW contains about 40% of the radioactivity and is comprised of principally 134,137Cs with smaller amounts of 90Sr and alpha-emitting isotopes of uranium, plutonium, neptunium and other actinide elements.
