Waste Management, Decontamination & Decommissioning (D&D) Process Engineering

• FATE^TM software for process and facility design and safety calculations
• Facility flow, heat transfer and toxic/radiological materials transport
• Chemical and thermal behavior during waste processing, shipping and storage
• Flammability gases and vapors/combustibility of dusts
• Facility fire analysis including toxic/radiological effects
• Chemical reaction propagation limits, including pyrophoricity
• Chemical reaction rates, pressurization and radiolysis
• Aerosol generation, transport, deposition and removal
• Facility emissions and source terms for processes, accidents and Decontamination & Decommissioning (D&D)

• Lab-scale equipment for reaction, heat-up and pressurization rates, as well as reactive system flow regimes (ARSST^TM and VSP2^TM Adiabatic Calorimeters)
• Fluid systems testing, including waterhammer and flow regime
• Gas and vapor flammability limits
• Dust explosion and combined dust/gas systems
• Aerosol re-suspension, entrainment, formation and particle size

• Vacuum drying of metallic uranium particles from spent nuclear fuel
• Shipping and storage of uranium-metal bearing spent fuel sludge including detailed container design
• High temperature passivation of uranium-metal bearing spent fuel sludge
• Vacuum drying of 2000 metric tons metallic spent nuclear fuel
• Vitrification plant waste tank and ventilation system pressure and flow
• Mixed oxide (MOX) facility fire and source term analysis including soot loading
• Dry storage of Strontium/Cesium salt capsules
• Storage tank hydrogen explosion and source term
• Underground storage tank solvent vapor explosion and source term
• Storage tank thermal response to loss of cooling
• Nuclear power plant detailed fire modeling

Using FATE^TM software, FAI can calculate temperatures, pressures, flow rates and compositions for fluids, gases and structures associated with waste management process Decontamination & Decommissioning (D&D).  It is uniquely suited to nuclear facility operations because it combines models for fluid flow and heat transfer with models for aerosol transport and deposition, explosions and fire.  FATE^TM has been applied to dozens of United States Department of Energy (DOE) and commercial nuclear applications and its predecessor code was awarded a DOE Silver Award for Technology Innovation at Hanford.

• Imperfect heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), or open doorways or vents
• Partial or complete loss of power impact on facility conditions
• Explosion and fire effects on tanks, equipment and cables
• Soot loading on filters affecting dispersal of toxic materials

• Spent fuel Pool Closure Project: Project databook; technical basis for sludge processing, shipping and storage; radiolysis and flammable gas behavior
• Mixed Oxide Facility: Fire and contamination release analysis
• Plutonium Finishing Plant: Aerosol release evaluation support against downwinder lawsuit; experimental data for reaction rates and pressurization
• Spent Nuclear Fuel Project: Technical basis documents for pyrophoricity, fuel processing, shipping and storage, radiolysis and flammable gas behavior
• Tank Waste Remediation Systems: Experimental data for closure of ferrocyanide and organic-nitrate waste issues, calculations for solvent vapor, flammable gas and source terms   
• Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility: Capsule advisory panel for technical basis for Strontium/Cesium capsule storage
• Waste Receiving and Packaging Facility: Fire and contamination release analysis
• Waste Treatment Vitrification Plan: Explosive hazards analysis, due diligence review and management transition team member