Alternatives for High-Level Waste Salt Processing at the Savannah River Site (2000)
Chapter: Front Matter
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
Support for this study was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant No.DE-FC01-99EW59049. All opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Energy.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Engineering
Institute of Medicine
National Research Council
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The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
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COMMITTEE ON CESIUM PROCESSING ALTERNATIVES FOR HIGH-LEVEL WASTE AT THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE
MILTON LEVENSON, Chair,
Bechtel International (retired), Menlo Park, California
GREGORY R. CHOPPIN, Vice Chair,
Florida State University, Tallahassee
JOHN BERCAW,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
DARYLE H. BUSCH,
University of Kansas, Lawrence
TERESA FRYBERGER,
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York
GEORGE E. KELLER II,
Union Carbide Corporation (retired), South Charleston, West Virginia
MATTHEW KOZAK,
Monitor Scientific, LLC, Denver, Colorado
ALFRED P. SATTELBERGER,
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico
BARRY E. SCHEETZ,
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park
MARTIN J. STEINDLER,
Argonne National Laboratory (retired), Downers Grove, Illinois
Staff
ROBERT S. ANDREWS, Senior Staff Officer,
Board on Radioactive Waste Management
KEVIN D. CROWLEY, Director,
Board on Radioactive Waste Management
DOUGLAS J. RABER, Director,
Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology
JOHN R. WILEY, Senior Staff Officer,
Board on Radioactive Waste Management
LATRICIA C. BAILEY, Senior Project Assistant
MATTHEW BAXTER-PARROTT, Project Assistant
SUZANNE STACKHOUSE, Project Assistant
BOARD ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
JOHN F. AHEARNE, Chair,
Sigma Xi and Duke University, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
CHARLES MCCOMBIE, Vice Chair,
Gipf-Oberfrick, Switzerland
ROBERT M. BERNERO,
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (retired), Bethesda, Maryland
ROBERT J. BUDNITZ,
Future Resources Associates, Inc., Berkeley, California
GREGORY R. CHOPPIN,
Florida State University, Tallahassee
JAMES H. JOHNSON, JR.,
Howard University, Washington, D.C.
ROGER E. KASPERSON,
Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
JAMES O. LECKIE,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
JANE C. S. LONG,
Mackay School of Mines, University of Nevada, Reno
ALEXANDER MACLACHLAN,
E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (retired), Wilmington, Delaware
WILLIAM A. MILLS,
Oak Ridge Associated Universities (retired), Olney, Maryland
MARTIN J. STEINDLER,
Argonne National Laboratory (retired), Downers Grove, Illinois
ATSUYUKI SUZUKI,
University of Tokyo, Japan
JOHN J. TAYLOR,
Electric Power Research Institute (retired), Palo Alto, California
VICTORIA J. TSCHINKEL,
Landers and Parsons, Tallahassee, Florida
MARY LOU ZOBACK,
U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California
Staff
KEVIN D. CROWLEY, Director
ROBERT S. ANDREWS, Senior Staff Officer
BARBARA PASTINA, Staff Officer
GREGORY H. SYMMES, Senior Staff Officer
JOHN R. WILEY, Senior Staff Officer
SUSAN B. MOCKLER, Research Associate
TONI GREENLEAF, Administrative Associate
LATRICIA C. BAILEY, Senior Project Assistant
MATTHEW BAXTER-PARROTT, Project Assistant
LAURA D. LLANOS, Senior Project Assistant
SUZANNE STACKHOUSE, Project Assistant
ANGELA R. TAYLOR, Senior Project Assistant
BOARD ON CHEMICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY
JOHN L. ANDERSON, Co-Chair,
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
LARRY E. OVERMAN, Co-Chair,
University of California, Irvine
BARBARA J. GARRISON,
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
ALICE P. GAST,
Stanford University
LOUIS C. GLASGOW,
DuPont Fluoroproducts, Wilmington, Delaware
KEITH E. GUBBINS,
North Carolina State University, Raleigh
NANCY B. JACKSON,
Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico
JIRI JONAS,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
GEORGE E. KELLER,
Union Carbide Company (retired), South Charleston, West Virginia
RICHARD A. LERNER,
Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California
GREGORY A. PETSKO,
Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center, Waltham, Massachusetts
WAYNE H. PITCHER, JR.,
Genencor International, Inc., Palo Alto, California
KENNETH N. RAYMOND,
University of California, Berkeley
PAUL J. REIDER,
Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, New Jersey
LYNN F. SCHNEEMEYER,
Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey
MARTIN B. SHERWIN,
ChemVen Group, Inc., Boca Raton, Florida
JEFFREY J. SIIROLA,
Chemical Process Research Laboratory, Kingsport, Tennessee
CHRISTINE S. SLOANE,
General Motors, Troy, Michigan
PETER J. STANG,
University of Utah, Salt Lake City
JOHN T. YATES, JR.,
University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
STEVEN W. YATES,
University of Kentucky, Lexington
Staff
DOUGLAS J. RABER, Director
RUTH MCDIARMID, Program Officer
SUSAN MORRISSEY, Intern
CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Program Officer
SYBIL A. PAIGE, Administrative Associate
MARIA P. JONES, Senior Project Assistant
Acknowledgements
This fast-track study could not have been completed without the assistance of many individuals and organizations. The committee especially wishes to acknowledge and thank Steve Piccolo (Westinghouse Savannah River Company [WSRC]), Roy Schepens (U.S. Department of Energy [DOE]), Kurt Fisher (DOE), and Kenneth Lang (DOE), who served as liaisons to the committee from Savannah River and DOE Headquarters and provided information and briefings during the course of this study; Robert Jones (WSRC), who served as the committee's main point of contact to the salt processing project at Savannah River and kept track of the committee's sometimes insatiable requests for information; and the other individuals listed in Appendix C, who provided briefings to the committee, in some cases on very short notice, during its two open meetings in Augusta, Georgia.
The committee also wishes to thank the following staff of the National Research Council's Board on Radioactive Waste Management and Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology for a strong team effort to support this project: Robert Andrews, Kevin Crowley, Doug Raber, and John Wiley for organizing the project and assisting with the preparation of the committee's reports; and Latricia Bailey, Matthew Baxter-Parrott, and Suzanne Stackhouse for assistance with research and logistics.
List of Report Reviewers
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council (NRC) Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The content of the review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report:
Robert M. Bernero, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (retired)
Mary L. Good, Venture Capitol Investors
Edward Lahoda, Westinghouse Science and Technology Department
Dade W. Moeller, Dade Moeller & Associates, Inc.
Kenneth N. Raymond, University of California, Berkeley
Vincent Van Brunt, University of South Carolina
Stephen Yates, University of Kentucky
Edwin L. Zebroski, Elgis Consulting
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by E-an Zen, appointed by the Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources, and Royce W. Murray, appointed by the Report Review Committee, who were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with NRC procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the NRC.
