Development of a Scalable Process Control System for Chemical Soil Washing to Remove Uranyl Oxide

Abstract : The U.S. Army has responsibility for maintaining or managing a large number of facilities that are or have been used for training troops and developing/testing equipment and munitions, including ranges that may have been contaminated with uranium. Licenses issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for use of radiological materials such as depleted uranium (DU) specify the isotopes that can be used, along with possession limits for the site. U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) researchers have developed a soil washing system to leach DU oxides from soil. The Institute for Clean Energy Technology (ICET) at Mississippi State University (MSU) has developed an effective survey system to accurately locate areas of DU contamination for removal and disposal. The ICET also has a history of developing control systems for sophisticated test beds. ICET has combined its experience in development of control systems with DU detection methods to develop a process control system for the ERDC soil leaching system for extracting DU from contaminated range soil. The ICET system control and data acquisition (SCADA) system has been demonstrated to control pumps and valves, maintain leaching solution chemistry to user-defined set points, and detect environmental levels of DU oxides in leachate. The SCADA system will assist the ERDC Environmental Laboratory (EL) in transitioning development of the soil washing system from pilot to a full-scale system.