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Report for NDEP
Annual report submitted to DOE/HQ
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Report prepared for NDEP
Report prepared for NDEP
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Report for NDEP
Report prepared for NDEP
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's (AECL) Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) has been in operation for over 60 years. Radioactive, mixed, hazardous and non-hazardous wastes have been and continue to be generated at CRL as a result of research and development, radioisotope production, reactor operation and facility decommissioning activities. AECL has implemented several improvement initiatives at CRL to simplify the interface between waste generators and waste receivers: - Introduction of trained Waste Officers representing their facilities or activities at CRL; - Establishment of a Waste Management Customer Support Service as a Single-Point of Contact to provide guidance to waste generators for all waste management processes; and - Implementation of a streamlined approach for waste identification with emphasis on early identification of waste types and potential disposition paths. As a result of implementing these improvement initiatives, improvements in waste management and waste transfer efficiencies have been realized at CRL. These included: 1) waste generators contacting the Customer Support Service for information or guidance instead of various waste receivers; 2) more clear and consistent guidance provided to waste generators for waste management through the Customer Support Service; 3) more consistent and correct waste information provided to waste receivers through Waste Officers, resulting in reduced time and resources required for waste management (i.e., overall cost); 4) improved waste minimization and segregation approaches, as identified by in-house Waste Officers; and 5) enhanced communication between waste generators and waste management groups. (authors)
Repository performance confirmation links the technical bases of repository science and societal acceptance. Among the countless aspects of monitoring, performance confirmation holds a special place, involving distinct activities combining technical and social significance in radioactive waste management. Discussion is divided into four themes: 1. A distinction is drawn between performance confirmation monitoring and other testing and monitoring objectives, 2. A case study illustrates confirmation activities integrated within a long-term testing and monitoring strategy for Yucca Mountain, 3. A case study reviews compliance monitoring developed and implemented for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, and 4. An approach for developing, evaluating and implementing the next generation of performance confirmation monitoring is presented. International interest in repository monitoring is exhibited by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme 'Monitoring Developments for Safe Repository Operation and Staged Closure' (MoDeRn) Project. The MoDeRn partners are considering the role of monitoring in a phased approach to the geological disposal of radioactive waste. As repository plans advance in different countries, the need to consider monitoring strategies within a controlled framework has become more apparent. The MoDeRn project pulls together technical and societal experts to assimilate a common understanding of a process that could be followed to develop a monitoring program. Experience from two repository programs in the United States sheds light on how performance confirmation has been executed. Lessons learned can help the next generation of performance confirmation. (author)
This paper identifies how a joint Sellafield Ltd/Nuclear Management Partners Tactical Review Team and main contractor, SA Robotics, developed and successfully deployed a solution to clean and coat the wall surface of an aging structure on the Sellafield Site. This involved removal of redundant pipework from the wall, cleaning and coating of the surface using a bespoke designed robotic manipulator with various end effectors. This system was able to safely and in a controlled manner remove the pipework, clean down the wall and prime and coat it within the required programme duration which was 5 months earlier than a previous shielding only option. This was done in a high radiation field and in the challenging conditions of winter in Northern England. (authors)
Report prepared for NDEP
A team composed of the facility owner Oskarshamn Kraftgrupp AB (OKG) specialists and external experts was appointed to develop a basis for decision on an overall strategy for the management of the material and waste arising from the decommissioning of two BWR NPPs at the Oskarshamn site in Sweden. To be able to provide a good basis for decision the full waste management chain from generation to disposition had to be assessed, categorized, quantified and analysed with regards to costs, environmental impact and risks. A systematic approach was applied taking benefit of the existing decommissioning studies, well recognized decommissioning concepts and the combined knowledge and experience in the project team. In total four different waste management concepts were compared individually and in combinations. This paper discusses the important aspects in the work to develop a state of the art waste management in decommissioning. It also contains reflections and gives certain recommendations for decommissioning planning in general as well as an overview of some specific findings, results and recommendations from the actual project at Oskarshamn. (authors)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Technical Area 55 (TA 55) utilizes several different container types to store and transfer special nuclear material and waste for numerous programs. The Nuclear Process Infrastructure - Infrastructure Operations Group (NPI-2) analyzes and certifies containers to meet the specifications for distinct processes and storage. Engineering analysis performed on these containers include but are not limited to: leak testing, filter efficiency testing, pressure drop test, drop testing, water penetration testing, polymer (o-ring) hardness testing, and thermal steady state testing. Of all of these tests, thermal steady-state testing is most crucial to ensure critical components for specific containers do not fail under an internal heat payload. This testing provides data for setting heat payload limits for different containers. The Pipe Over-pack Container (POC) is a vented carbon steel container with a removable lid designed for storing or transferring nuclear waste. Additionally, TA 55 has been tasked to manage and store all of its Transuranic (TRU) waste for the foreseeable future. Being able to place more material into a single container conserves the physical storage space available at TA 55. The Pipe Over pack Handling and Operations Manual requires each user to ensure that the maximum temperature of each component in the POC is not exceeded. Conducting a thermal steady-state test with a combustible waste matrix on the POC can benefit stakeholders on increasing the material limits of the container. The results of these measurements will establish new wattage limits to meet LANL's transportation requirements. The current LANL Transportation Safety Document (TSD) limits the amount of heat source plutonium to 10 grams per POC, corresponding to approximately 5 Watts of heat. The result of this test was provided to the Packaging and Transportation (OS-PT) group to evaluate new wattage limits that can satisfy the needs of TA 55, while maintaining a safe packaging configuration. (authors)
Determination of the nature and extent of contamination is a critical task in any Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) Facility Investigation. Nature and extent are typically defined through field investigation results. In some cases, however, physical and/or programmatic limitations on field work can impede efforts to define nature and extent based on field work alone. Both physical and programmatic restrictions affected efforts to characterize soil contamination at Waste Management Area C, on the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site. As a result, fate and transport modeling was undertaken to enhance the definition of the nature and extent of soil contamination at Waste Management Area C. (authors)