Design and Development of Innovative High-Level Waste Pipeline Unplugging Technologies (Asynchronous Pulsing)

Availability of pipeline unplugging technologies is critical to the effort of cross-site HLW transfers through pipelines. In the past,some of the pipelines have plugged resulting in schedule delays and increased costs. Furthermore, pipeline plugging has been cited as one of the major issues that can result in unplanned outages at the Hanford WTP, causing inconsistent operation. Currently, there are no unplugging technologies qualified to be deployed at the sites should the plugging of a transfer line occur. In the past, a number of plug locating, and pipe unplugging technologies were demonstrated at FIU, which allowed down-selection of the most promising technologies that have potential for deployment. FIU has evaluated the lessons learned from the previous technology testing and has directed current efforts to developing new pipeline unplugging devices and methods that can assist site engineers when a plugging event occurs.