ORGANIC ANALYSES OF AN ACTUAL AND SIMULATED MIXED WASTE - HANFORDS ORGANIC COMPLEXANT WASTE REVISITED

Reanalysis of the organics in a mixed waste, an organic complexant was te from the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site, has yielded an 8 0.4% accounting of the waste's total organic content In addition to se veral complexing and chelating agents (citrate, EDTA, HEDTA and NTA), 38 chelator/complexor fragments have been identified, compared to only 11 in the original analysis, all presumably formed via organic,degrad ation. Moreover, a misidentification, methanetricarboxylic acid has be en re-identified as the chelator fragment N-(methylamine)imino- diacet ic acid (MAIDA). A nonradioactive simulant of the actual waste, contai ning the parent organics (citrate EDTA, HEDTA and NTA), was formulated and stored in the dark at ambient temperature for 90 days. Twenty che lator and complexor fragments were identified in the simulant, along w ith several carboxylic acids, confirming that myriad chelator and comp lexor fragments are formed via degradation of the parent organics. Mor eover, their abundance in the simulant (60.9% of the organics identifi ed) argues mat the harsh chemistries of mixed wastes like Hanford's or ganic complexant waste ate more than enough to cause organic degradati on, even in the absence of radiation.