FireDOC Search

Author
Silva, M.
Title
Assessment of the Flammability and Explosion Potential of Transuranic Waste.
Coporate
Environmental Evaluation Group, Albuquerque, NM
Report
DOE/AL/58308-48, June 1991, 96 p.
Distribution
Available from National Technical Information Service
Keywords
waste disposal | flammability | explosion hazards | pyrophoric materials | hazardous materials | volatility | autoignition | pyrophoric ignition
Abstract
The WIPP Fire Safety Analysis Report (WIPP FSAR) incorrectly identified the 1970 drum fire at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) as the only spontaneous ignition in the Department of Energy's (DOE) operational history that involved waste similar to those coming to the WIPP. Records from the DOE's "unusual occurrence reporting system" indicate that discharge of static electricity, spontaneous ignition of pyrophoric materials, and reactions involving nitric acid have generated other fires, explosions, and incidents of drum overpressurization in mixed radioactive waste.