April 24, 1998
Promising nuclear waste management plan earns UW students prize at international competition
A model system for dealing with radioactive wastes earned University of Washington chemical engineering students third prize last week at an international environmental design contest.
The team of seven undergraduate students proposed a unique mobile in cineration system that would destroy organic hazardous wastes without harming the environment while converting the radioactive wastes into a form suitable for safe, long-term storage. The plan is similar to what has been proposed, after decades of analysi s, for dealing with nuclear wastes at eastern Washington’s Hanford site, says adviser Larry Ricker, professor in the UW Department of Chemical Engineering.
“This is the only way people can see to sto re these nuclear wastes for the long term, because it contains the radioactive material in a form that is very stable chemically and physically. It’s highly unlikely that the radioactive material would ever be released back into the environment,” Ricker s ays. “Our plan is unique in that we proposed a mobile system that could be removed once the cleanup is done so there’s no unsightly legacy.”
The UW group was one of 34 teams from around the United States and overseas who took part in the competition, sp onsored by the Waste-management Education & Research Consortium at New Mexico State University.
Each team tackled one of four real-world environmental challenges faced by public and private organizations, such as mine tailings recovery and remediation of contaminated sludge. Teams were given specific parameters for addressing the challenges and were required to build a working bench-scale model of their proposed solution, produce a written report and deliver it to a te am of judges.
Nine teams, including the UW squad, took up the challenge of remediating contaminated sludge. The UW team proposed incinerating the sludge using a plasma arc torch. This ultra high-temperature incineration would destroy organic contaminan ts in the sludge and convert the remains, including radioactive material, into molten glass that could be poured into molds for long-term storage, Ricker explains. Gases from the combustion process would be treated and released into the atmosphere without any adverse environmental impact, he adds.
The UW group was the only team to develop a mobile system, which offered environmental, aesthetic and economic advantages, Ricker says. However, the team finished in third place behind University of Idaho and Montana Tech University. The Seattle team received $2,000 and a trophy during award ceremonies on April 17.
Regardless of where they placed, the UW team members said their first foray into the environmental design contest was a rewarding learning experi ence. During six months of preparations, the students had the opportunity to apply much of what they have learned in the classroom to a real-world problem and also to extend themselves beyond the traditional chemical engineering curriculum.
“The neat th ing about this project was that we had to deal with both engineering and non-engineeering issues, such as designing the process, making sure that we meet regulations and public acceptance criteria,” said Tun, a senior. “Most importantly, turning our idea into an actual prototype has been my greatest learning experience.”
Other team members, all seniors, are: Celia Baynes of Tri-Cities, Yoko Kojima of Seattle, Hieu Lam of Seattle, Gary Rhodes of Tacoma, and Jennifer Spanski of Kent.
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For more information, contact Ricker at (206) 543-8786 or ricker@cheme.washington.edu.
