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DOE-HDBK-3010-94
7.0 Application Examples; Liquid Storage and Ion Exchange Examples
The appropriateness of this assumption will be considered again after a source term
has been developed.
Precedents within DOE for source term estimation have used the model of a thermal
explosion. The closest attempts at a specific model have generally assumed some
release correlation with the TNT equivalent of the physical explosion. One example
considered plutonium disassociating from resin and recombining with nitrate in
solution to have the same essential effect as oxidizing reactions. The heat of reaction
(~ 210 cal/g) was used to estimate a TNT equivalent by assuming some small
percentage of resin reacting, as only a small amount of reaction is believed necessary
to generate significant pressure. This method estimated TNT equivalents around 45 g
of TNT, which is the same value estimated for the 1976 resin exotherm incident at
Hanford (0.1 lb TNT). The Hanford event resulted in ductile failure of the metal
resin column, blowout of both the window above the column and the window in front
of the column, and numerous glove failures.
A second example simply assumed the 0.1 lb value based on the observation that the
column being examined had less structural strength than the Hanford column. This
example estimated the mass of plutonium airborne by use of a mass ratio (grams inert
material/grams TNT) in correlations from Halverson and Mishima (1986) based on
the Steindler-Seefelt data discussed in this handbook. There are two potential
problems with such an approach. First, as noted in this handbook, as the mass ratio
becomes large, the undefined physical configuration of material to explosive becomes
the dominant factor for estimating release as only a small fraction of the material may
be subject to the relevant shock effects. Secondly, any method that focuses solely on
TNT equivalent scales for release is overlooking two other release mechanisms
associated with a thermal explosion. Resin may burn before, during, and after the
explosion, and the generation of significant pressure will result in release from
flashing spray of superheated liquids at the moment of column failure.
MAR
The source term for the ion exchange exotherm is a function of MAR distribution as
damage ratios are variable and there are competing release mechanisms for solid and
liquid phases with no constant ratio of plutonium between the phases. At the start of
a load cycle, only trace holdup plutonium is in the resin beds. Then solution at a
maximum plutonium inlet concentration of ~ 7 g/l passes through the beds. At the
completion of a flowsheet loading cycle, almost 6000 g of plutonium are absorbed in
the beds with a maximum of 6500 g allowed. The majority of this material is
absorbed on the first two of the three ion exchange columns. During the subsequent
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