Flushing transfer pipe after radioactive waste transfers generates thousands of gallons of additional radioactive waste each year at the Hanford site. The use of pneumatic pigging with waste soluble pigs as a means to clear transfer piping may be an effective alternative to raw water flushes. A feasibility study was performed by a group of senior mechanical engineering students for their senior design project as part of their curriculum at Washington State University. The students divided the feasibility study into three sub-projects involving: (1) materials research, (2) delivery system design, and (3) mockup fabrication and testing. The students screened through twenty-three candidate materials and selected a thermoplastic polymer combined 50:50 wt% with sucrose to meet the established material performance criteria. The students also prepared a conceptual design of a remote pneumatic delivery system and constructed a mockup section of transfer pipe for testing the prototype pigs.
Keywords: Hanford, corrosion, pigging, pipe, nuclear