A -- RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Notice Date

November 7, 2000

Contracting Office

UT-Battelle,LLC, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6192

ZIP Code

37831-6192

Solicitation Number

3400007805

Point of Contact

Karen Bradley (865) 576-1431; e-mail: bradleykc@ornl.gov

E-Mail Address

bradleykc@ornl.gov (bradleykc@ornl.gov)

Description

Tentative Schedule: RFP release January 2001. It is anticipated that multiple subcontracts with be awarded based on the raw material and analytical costs up to the available funding. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is competitively bidding a subcontract for Demonstration of The Stabilization Process For Treatment of Mercury Sludge Wastes Containing > 260 ppm Mercury. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Land Disposal Restrictions (LDR) program currently has technology-specific treatment standards for hazardous wastes containing greater than or equal to 260 ppm total mercury (Hg) (i.e. high Hg subcategory wastes). The treatment standards specify RMERC for high Hg subcategory wastes and IMERC if the high Hg subcategory wastes contain organics. RMERC requires retorting or roasting in a thermal processing unit, while IMERC specifies incineration. Both of these standards are based on the premise of recovering the Hg for recycle. In the case of radioactively-contaminated Hg, when the Hg is recovered, it is typically still radioactive and therefore can not be recycled. EPA requires that this recovered radioactively contaminated Hg undergo additional treatment, specifically amalgamation, prior to disposal. The Department of Energy (DOE) TRU and Mixed Waste Focus Area (TMFA) and the Mercury Working Group (HgWG) chartered under the TMFA are working with EPA to validate technologies that can directly treat radioactively contaminated high Hg subcategory wastes without removing the mercury from the waste. To date under this program a waste soil from Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) containing approximately 4,800 ppm of Hg and radioactive contaminants has been successfully treated by several different vendors to meet a Hg Toxic Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) treatment goal of 0.025 mg/l or less. These treated waste forms are now undergoing additional evaluations using new analytical protocols, developed by Dr. David Kosson of Vanderbilt University. The data generated will be compared to the standard TCLP results. These new protocols provide another methodology to determine how the treated waste form will behave in a variety of disposal environments. To supplement the data on treatment of soils EPA needs additional data for stabilization of high Hg subcategory waste sludges. The data gathered from the demonstration of treatment of this sludge should then provide EPA with enough information to support a revision to allow stabilization of all high Hg subcategory wastes. As in the demonstration on the BNL soils referenced above, this effort will also have two major objectives. The first objective is to evaluate alternative processes to RMERC and IMERC for DOE's legacy mixed waste. To that end, the processes will treat a high Hg subcategory surrogate waste to meet a TCLP treatment goal of 0.025 mg/l or less. A non-radioactive surrogate waste sludge has been selected to eliminate the added cost and requirements for handling, treatment, and disposal of an actual radioactive mixed waste. The surrogate sludge will contain five different forms of mercury including elemental. The second objective is to provide EPA with the treated waste forms which EPA will test to again compare proposed new analytical protocols to the standard TCLP results. These comparisons will be used by EPA in their efforts to revise the LDR treatment standards for Hg-bearing hazardous wastes. Technology vendors are being asked to participate in this demonstration at their expense except for the analytical costs incurred from the use of an outside laboratory to perform TCLP testing on the treated waste forms and the costs of shipping the treated waste forms to the University of Cincinnati where the new protocol testing will be performed and to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) where vapor pressure testing will occur. The Company will provide the raw materials and the protocols to make up the surrogate waste. All testing data from the study will be shared with the vendors. If you have an interest in receiving the RFP, please submit your name, company name, address, telephone and fax number and your e-mail address to Karen Bradley @ bradleykc@ornl.gov.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20001109/ASOL003.HTM (W-312 SN5061T8)