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At least 1,135 records · Page 63
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DOE OSTI2016

DOE Oak Ridge Cleanup History - Setting the Stage for Future Success - 16273

The operation of the three DOE sites in Oak Ridge for 70+ years has produced a complex set of contaminated environmental media (water, soil, air) and facilities. In order to effectively plan for cleanup of the remaining contamination, understanding the causes of the contamination and the techniques that have proven effective in cleanup to date is essential. This paper summarizes the operations and resulting radioactive and chemical releases, the cleanup that has been accomplished to date, and the cleanup remaining to be completed. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2016

High Angle Remediation of Legacy Mercury Contaminated Soil at LANL - 16276

Mercury contaminated soil was left behind by The Manhattan Project and early Cold War era operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in Los Alamos, NM. TerranearPMC (TPMC) was the subcontractor that successfully completed this high-angle, legacy cleanup project on a steep, difficult-to-access canyon wall in Upper Los Alamos Canyon Aggregate Area south of a busy shopping center parking lot. A Menzi Muck (spider excavator) was used in concert with a high capacity telescoping crane to remove approximately 158 cubic yards of contaminated rock and soil from the steep slope. The crane was also used to safely move personnel and equipment into and off of the site, as well as to retrieve packaged waste. All soil excavated from the site was containerised in soft-sided 1.77 cubic yard IP-1 containers and shipped to an approved, licensed, off-site disposal facility. Once excavation was completed, sampling confirmed that human health concerns and environmental risk issues had been mitigated. This proven technical approach will become the preferred method for cleaning up other similar, difficult-to access/steep legacy waste sites across the Upper Los Alamos Canyon Aggregate Area. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2016

Treatment of Chlorinated Solvents in Groundwater Beneath an Occupied Building at The Young - Rainey STAR Center (Science, Technology, and Research Center) - 16342

Groundwater contamination, consisting of two dissolved-phase plumes originating from chlorinated solvent source areas, in the southeastern portion of the Young- Rainey Star Center (also known as the Pinellas County, Florida, Site) in Largo, Florida, has migrated beyond the property boundary, beneath the roadways, and beneath adjacent properties to the south and east. Groundwater contamination will persist as long as the onsite contaminant source remains. The origin of the contamination appears to be multiple long-term point sources beneath Building 100, a 4.5 ha (11 acre) building that housed manufacturing facilities during US DOE operations at the site. The site is now owned by Pinellas County, and most of the space inside the building is leased to private companies, so DOE chose not to conduct characterization or remediation through the floor of the building, instead choosing to conduct all work from outside the building. Injection of emulsified soybean oil and a microbial culture has been used at other areas of the site to accelerate naturally occurring bacterial processes that degrade groundwater contaminants to harmless compounds, and that same approach was chosen for this task. The technical approach consisted of installing horizontal wells from outside the building footprint, extending through and around the identified subsurface treatment areas, and terminating beneath the building. Two 107 m (350 ft) long wells, two 122 m (400 ft) long wells, and four 137 m (450 ft) long wells have been installed to intersect the inferred source areas and confirmed contaminant plumes beneath the building. DOE then injected emulsified vegetable oil and a microbial culture into the horizontal wells at each of several target areas beneath the building where the highest groundwater contaminant concentrations have been detected. The target areas are the northwest corner of the building between the old drum storage pad locations and monitoring well PIN12-S35B, the vicinity of former monitoring well PIN12-S57B, and hydraulically up-gradient from the south plume and the east plume at the points where they exit from beneath the building. We describe the details of designing and constructing horizontal injection wells for bioremediation beneath a large, occupied industrial production facility, including lessons learned; technical, logistical, and environmental challenges; community relations; and regulatory relations. Because of the expected lag in biological acclimation and response, distance between the treatment areas and associated monitoring points, and low groundwater velocity, it will likely be years before the full impact of the project will be realized. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2016

High Performance Teams Enable Mission Success for SRNL - 16363

The accomplishment of the DOE EM mission of cleaning up the radioactive waste generated as a byproduct of the development and maintenance of nuclear materials over the last 60 years is a daunting task. SRNL specializes in working directly with the 'owners' of the cleanup challenges to identify the desired outcome and develop a solution that can be put into practice. 'We put science to work' is not just a 'tag line' rather it is a concise statement of our values and approach to applying science and engineering to the cleanup objectives. The management of radioactive waste poses multi-decade challenges to DOE EM and the Nation. The ability to harness the depth of knowledge, experience, expertise and passion for safely and effectively solving the technical challenges has reached a critical junction. Perhaps too late to be a natural and organic transition the industry finds itself critically devoid of resources to effectively and efficiently keep focused on the highest order task: cleanup. When project managers plan the resources necessary to perform the planned scope they typically are focused on financial, human, and industrial resources that would be beneficial to project execution. The critical shortage we will be evaluating is experienced and skilled leaders, mentors and coaches in the workforce. The production of educated scientists and engineers is a primary focus at all levels of educational institutions with Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) focused curricula beginning in elementary school. The need for leaders who are skilled in inspiring organizational creativity, adept in harnessing and focusing individual energy while effectively communicating to the work force and the clientele equally compelling messages, has never been greater, or their absence in the workforce more ominous. Managers trained in the classical management theory (insert references here) are aging out of the workforce. In many cases these managers have not retained close connection to advancements in their primary field of study but rather have succumbed to the administrivia burdens that typify highly regulated work. The current technically trained workforce while interested in the 'perks' of management (i.e. visibility, pay increases, advancing status) are driven to keep close connection to their technical 'roots' as a fall-back plan should they need to change their career path either by choice or necessity. The challenge is how to achieve the productive hum of a finely tuned organizational model that blends executive vision and drive with technical leadership and excellence in execution. If any of these three tenets of a high performance team falters the ability to recover erodes the performance of the team and begins to weaken the cultural foundation essential to sustaining high performance work teams. At SRNL, recognition of the need to adapt the management dynamics and the business model and to harness the energy of the workforce to sustain - and in fact increase - the level of performance is a driving force in the transformation of the organization. Examples of changes in organizations structure, business systems and employee engagement are discussed as they relate to the impact on accomplishing the cleanup mission and fostering the next generation of great leaders and innovators. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2016

Assessing the Performance of Pump-and-Treat Systems - 16380

Pump-and-treat (P and T) is a common groundwater remedy. However, a challenge with P and T remedies has been in evaluating their performance. A structured approach can be applied to gathering the information needed to support assessment of P and T remedies and decisions to close the remedy, continue P and T, optimize the P and T system, or transition to other remedy approaches. Supportive decision elements include analysis of contaminant concentrations and trends, quantifying contaminant mass discharge of plume and source zone, quantifying the attenuation capacity of the aquifer, using tools to predict future plume behavior and time to reach remedial action objectives, and information about the current P and T system design and operations. Several sites have successfully conducted a P and T performance assessment and supported decisions to change their remedy approach. These case studies are discussed in relation to a recent document, Performance Assessment for Pump-and-Treat Closure or Transition, that provides guidance for the assessment process and associate remedy decisions. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2016

Testing of New Technetium Selective Media TcTreat - 16497

A new zirconium oxide based material TcTreat is under development and testing for the removal of radioactive oxo-anionic species (Tc-99 pertechnetate, Ru-106 ruthenate) from solution. TcTreat exhibited a very high {sup 99}Tc uptake over a broad pH-range of 4-10 and the uptake was reasonably high also in mildly alkaline and acidic ranges. Nitrate and sulphate had a decreasing effect on {sup 99}Tc uptake but is was still strong (k{sub d} = 100,000 ml/g and above) even at 1 molar concentrations.

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DOE OSTI2016

Lessons Learned in Implementation of Radiological Investigations of Small-Scale Sites in Port Hope, Ontario - 16534

The Port Hope Area Initiative is a $1.28 billion project for the remediation of historic low-level radioactive waste resulting from the operation of Eldorado Nuclear Limited and its private-sector predecessors between 1932 and 1988 in Port Hope and Port Granby, Ontario, approximately 100 km east of Toronto. Included in the project is the investigation of all 4,800 privately and publicly owned properties in Port Hope in order to identify and remediate an estimated 375 properties containing LLRW exceeding clean-up criteria. This paper discusses the progress of the investigations, the development of clean-up criteria, methodologies used to identify historic LLRW, and lessons learned to date. This paper will be of greatest interest to future project managers of similar investigations. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

Performance Test of Removal of Gaseous Radioactive Methyl Iodide by TEDA-Impregnated Activated Carbon - 18049

During the operation of nuclear facility as well as decommissioning stage, various radioactive gaseous wastes are generated. It is generally recognized that radioiodine is potentially one of the most hazardous gas on the human body and environment. Iodine-131 release in the gaseous effluents at the nuclear facilities had been a critical environmental concern. Reducing iodine release is a critical issue in radioactive waste system evaluation, especially in their adherence to the 'as low as reasonably achievable' (ALARA) criteria because radioiodine among these gaseous wastes has radiological harm. Therefore, numerous studies for the removal of radioiodine from the off-gas stream of nuclear facilities have been performed with formation processes and chemical structure. This paper aims to evaluate the performance of removal efficiency of radioiodine gas by TEDA-impregnated activated carbon, which is used for radioiodine retention in nuclear facilities. The removal efficiencies of methyl iodide were evaluated by using a radioactive methyl iodide tracer at various temperatures up to 250 deg. C. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

A Novel, Fast Readout, Gamma Detector System for Nuclear Fingerprinting - 18083

Decommissioning or cleanup of a nuclear facility or after a nuclear accident requires detailed knowledge of the type, distribution and amount of nuclear isotopes. Gamma spectroscopy is a technique that can provide this information in situ, using the energy deposited by incident photons into the spectrometer. However, the high precision needed limits the speed of measurement. In this work, we present a novel technique to achieve fast, precise measurements, employing a multi-detector system with a fast readout which is suitable for high radiation environments. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

The DISTINCTIVE University Consortium: An Overview - 18102

The UK government remains committed to nuclear energy having an important role to play in delivering a secure, low carbon and affordable energy future. Successful delivery of their strategy recognises the need for underpinning research, in addition to the provision of a skilled workforce and international collaboration as key enablers. One crucial area is the decommissioning and clean-up of all existing civil nuclear licensed sites and the implementation of geological disposal of highly active wastes, with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority responsible for the delivery of policy aims with respect to legacy wastes. A central component of public acceptance of this strategy is a demonstrated ability to safely manage and dispose of waste, with acceptance linked to having scientifically robust routes for its safe clean-up and disposal. Similarly, the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) strategy is to maintain investment in nuclear fission, with the development of approaches for implementing safe, cost-effective clean-up, decommissioning and waste disposal of existing and future nuclear sites and facilities a strategic focus. The EPSRC-supported DISTINCTIVE (Decommissioning, Immobilisation and Storage Solutions for Nuclear Waste Inventories) consortium is carrying out research that addresses the broad area of nuclear waste and decommissioning, bringing together academic researchers from 11 of the UK's leading research intensive universities and key industry partners. When allied to the strong links of the partners with the industrial and international R and D community, the project provides an excellent route for building a greater capacity for R and D within the UK, underpinning the strategic needs noted. The consortium also addresses the skills agenda in training a significant number of researchers with high level skills of direct relevance to nuclear waste and decommissioning. This paper describes the aims and objectives of the work being undertaken, and the technical work underway within each of the research theme areas: AGR, Magnox and exotic spent fuels; PuO{sub 2} and fuel residues; legacy ponds and silo wastes; and structural integrity. Projects using radioactive materials are also considered. As the project enters its final year, consideration is given to the impacts of the project for both academic and non-academic beneficiaries. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

How Successful Site Preparation Work at a Large, Commercial, Hazardous and Toxic Waste Site Can Benefit DOE Cleanup Projects - 18111

Jacobs recently completed site preparation work supporting the private commercial development of a world-scale petrochemical complex (an 'ethylene cracker' to produce the primary building block for many forms of plastic) in Monaca, Pennsylvania - the first major U.S. project of its kind outside the Gulf Coast region in 20 years and one of the largest (multi-billion dollar) construction projects in the eastern U.S. Prior to beginning construction on the petrochemical complex, the site's previous large, industrial zinc smelter operations had to be decommissioned and the facilities had to be removed. During the previous 80 years, the smelting operations at the site were used to produce zinc, lead, mercury, and sulfuric acid (a by-product of smelting). The smelting operations left landfills and industrial soil over a large area that had to be removed or closed under regulatory review to allow development across the 81,000 m{sup 2} (200-acre) industrial site located near a major river and local populations. In order to meet Pennsylvania's site-specific Land Recycling Program (commonly referred to as 'Act 2') legislative requirements, the direct contact pathway for landfill soil and slag was removed or mitigated. The site preparation work, or 'Early Works', started in January 2015. As the selected Early Works overall Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management (EPCM) contractor, Jacobs performed the front end engineering and design. Subsequently, Jacobs had overall responsibility for procurement, construction management, health and safety, quality, security, and environmental services for the entire site and all contractors. The Early Works project included eight separate work scope packages: 1) Site Preparation, 2) Site Development, 3) Marine Works, 4) Rail Works, 5) Road Works and Offsite Utilities, 6) Site Security, 7) Construction Facilities, and 8) High Voltage Line Relocation. The Early Works scope was successfully completed in 2017. The challenges faced by this privately funded commercial project have much in common with large DOE and government construction projects. This paper explores lessons learned from the project and compares how project challenges were addressed on this private commercial project with those anticipated at large DOE/government construction and remediation sites, particularly those in the areas of Safety, Logistics, Infrastructure, and Stakeholder Involvement. The identification of best practices demonstrated on this successful project are shared for the purpose of bringing outside, commercial perspectives to ongoing or planned DOE/government construction projects. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

Application of an AREVA Mobile Evaporator Design Used Successfully at NRC Licensed U.S. Commercial Nuclear Sites to Support Hanford Site Operations - 18134

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of River Protection (ORP), manages the River Protection Project at the Hanford site in the South Eastern corner of Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mission of the River Protection Project is to retrieve and treat Hanford's tank waste and close the tank farms to protect the Columbia River. The Site Tank Operations Contractor (Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS)) via its site operations teams creates additional space in the Double Shell Tanks (DSTs) using the site's only remaining operational evaporator - 242-A. The current 242-A Evaporator has long been identified as a potential single point of failure that in the event of a major breakdown, could significantly impact retrieval operations at the Hanford Site. Areva has experience both on the Hanford site as an integrated subcontractor to the mission and in the design, procurement and construction of a mobile forced circulation evaporator unit designed to be used on Nuclear Regulatory Commission commercial nuclear utility sites. The mobile unit has been used at the following nuclear power plants: SONGS, Salem, Davis Besse, Waterford and Palo Verde. It was designed to take spent Water-EDTA based chemical cleaning solvent and evaporate water off to reduce the volume of waste required to go through downstream processes. It was further designed to fit inside ISO shipping containers. A multi-step approach will be used to: 1. review lessons learned from the previous DOE study for deploying a mobile evaporator on the Hanford sit, 2. evaluate the proposed waste streams and the required throughput and waste arising, sizing the evaporator appropriately, 3. develop a concept design requirements document for the use of a customized evaporator to meet the Hanford need 4. Design, and build a mobile evaporator and 5. Test, install and commission at a site to be agreed with WRPS/DOE. With an overall budget for the approach described of around $35 m, an operational evaporator could be delivered to site in 18-24 months from the approval of a detailed design package. Potential befits include the elimination of the 242-A evaporator as a single point failure, the creation of additional DST tank space and the elimination of the need to stage waste at the 242-A evaporator by moving the mobile unit to a location where is could be deployed at or close to the tank such as in 200W. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

Characterization of Highly Active Cells in Preparation for Post Operational Clean Out at Sellafield - 18139

The Highly Active Liquor Evaporation and Storage (HALES) Plant at Sellafield receives highly active (HA) raffinate liquors from the Magnox and Thermal Oxide (THoRP) Reprocessing Plants. These liquors are concentrated through evaporation into Highly Active Liquor (HAL), conditioned and stored in HALES before immobilisation in glass in the Waste Vitrification Plant (WVP). Reprocessing operations at Sellafield are nearing completion and hence these liquor feeds will soon cease. Therefore, HALES is starting its planning and preparation phases for Post Operational Clean Out (POCO) and decommissioning. POCO is a transitional phase between operations and decommissioning and encompasses activities undertaken to remove residual inventory and activity from the facility. Key drivers for POCO include risk and hazard reduction and facilitating subsequent decommissioning activities (including potential surveillance and maintenance or care and maintenance regimes). Characterization is a critical enabler for development and implementation of effective POCO. In addition to the key drivers above characterization within HALES will be used to: - Define the start and end points of POCO (radiological condition, inventory sources and location, configuration, etc.); - Develop and technically underpin the wash out strategy (volumes, rates, reagent types, etc.; - Monitor the effectiveness of POCO activities (reduction in inventory/activity, points of diminishing return, confirmation of end points for POCO). There are a number of significant challenges that present to characterization of the HALES facilities. Perhaps the most significant of these is the radiological status of the facility. HALES is an HA facility meaning that the high dose rates limit not only the technology selection for characterization (i.e. those with a very high radiation tolerance) but also place constraints on the access and deployment for the selected technology. Additionally, parts of the facility are circa 60 years old which brings its own challenges such as poor quality construction drawings and limited operational knowledge. Finally, limited sampling capability and minimal data regarding historic operations has resulted in uncertainties that will need to be addressed in order to undertake POCO as efficiently and effectively as possible. The solution to this challenge requires a novel and innovative approach and an example of this is the technique which is described in this paper. This is a radiometric characterization technique which utilizes remotely deployed dosimetry to determine the activity distribution within the vessels of interest to POCO. The results to date have been extremely promising, and the ability to produce concise visual representation of these results has already begun to facilitate better informed discussions around the POCO of the facility. It is expected that in the future this technique will be applicable to other areas of Sellafield which face similar characterization challenges. This paper presents a summary of the development and implementation of the solution along with the results obtained so far. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

Remediation of D-Area Ash Units, Savannah River Site - 18151

At the Savannah River Site (SRS), under the tri-party Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) between the United States Department of Energy (US DOE), United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC), agreement was reached to remediate two ash basins, one coal pile runoff basin and one ash landfill as Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) Removal Actions within a schedule of five years (2014 - 2019). These removal actions complete the remediation of these basins and the ash landfill which originated from nearly 60 years of powerhouse operations and cover a total area of nearly 40.5 hectares (100 acres). Utilizing proven as well as state of the art technologies and methods, the completed actions culminate in two protective multi-layer cover systems and the conversion of the coal pile runoff basin to an ecological diverse storm water retention basin. Completion of these removal actions has been determined to provide protection of future industrial workers and ecological receptors as well as prevent migration of mobile contaminants found in coal residues (e.g., arsenic) from powerhouse operations, achieving all applicable or relevant and appropriate requirements. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

Bradwell - The first UK Nuclear Site to Enter Care and Maintenance - 18152

Magnox Ltd, a Cavendish Fluor company, is currently decommissioning twelve nuclear sites on behalf of the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Ten of these sites are former Power Stations; the other two are closed Research and Development facilities. An overall strategy for decommissioning the Magnox sites has been agreed between Magnox and the NDA. For all but one of these sites the decommissioning strategy involves an extended quiescent period, known as Care and Maintenance (C and M), during which remaining radiological hazards reduce naturally through radioactive decay. After this quiescent period the sites will be restored to an agreed end state through further decommissioning and clearance work. Sites in C and M will not be permanently manned. They will be passively safe such that prompt action will not be required in response to an alarm or fault. Preparing a nuclear site for C and M involves several inter-related strands of work including definition of the intended physical configuration of the site during C and M (the C and M entry state), establishing a safety case to support that configuration, carrying out the physical works needed to deliver the C and M entry state, preparing arrangements and a team to manage the site during C and M and consolidating the knowledge and information needed to support C and M and final clearance of the site. To enter C and M there needs to be a carefully controlled transition of site, personnel and management system into the agreed C and M configuration. Bradwell, a site on the east coast of England, was selected as part of the overall decommissioning strategy for 'early' entry into C and M; Bradwell is scheduled to enter C and M in late 2018, several years in advance of the next scheduled site, with the intent of carrying learning forward from Bradwell to the subsequent sites. Bradwell is now in the final stages of preparation for C and M. Decommissioning commenced on completion of defueling in 2005. A clearly defined C and M entry state was established early in decommissioning and, through interaction with Regulators and internal and external stakeholders, developed as a shared target, thus providing certainty to the scope of the overall decommissioning project. The site has subsequently been systematically decommissioned to meet this target C and M entry state. All legacy waste has been retrieved and packaged into robust disposal containers, the reactor buildings have a new weather envelope, and much of the site is empty space with concrete hardstanding where facilities used to exist and bare rooms where plant used to operate. The remaining radiological and environmental hazards are not significant. During C and M, which is anticipated to last for 70 years, Bradwell will be managed remotely without the requirement for personnel to be present on site, with the possible exception of an ongoing security presence when the site first enters C and M. In terms of UK decommissioning, many of the projects undertaken at Bradwell were first of a kind. The company operates under a programmed organisational and delivery model, which will enable innovation and learning from Bradwell to be carried forward across the whole Magnox fleet. In addition to decommissioning tools and techniques, processes to manage decommissioning, optimise the C and M entry state to reduce the burden on the UK taxpayer and to transition a site into C and M have been developed. This, in addition to taking people from Bradwell and seeding them into Magnox and the broader UK nuclear industry, should help to provide long term cost savings and delivery efficiencies across the entire NDA estate. This paper describes the journey of Bradwell Site through decommissioning and into C and M, highlighting the innovation and challenges that have contributed to the success of delivering the first UK nuclear site into Care and Maintenance. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

Synthesis and Characterisation of Caesium Phosphomolybdate and Zirconium Molybdate found in the Highly Active Storage Tanks at Sellafield - 18154

Caesium phosphomolybdate (Cs{sub 3}PMo{sub 12}O{sub 40}.xH{sub 2}O, CPM) and zirconium molybdate (ZrMo{sub 2}O{sub 7}(OH){sub 2}.xH{sub 2}O, ZM) are two known fission products that precipitate out within the Highly Active Storage Tanks (HASTs) at Sellafield, potentially causing 'hot-spots' and blocking pipes. Currently, there is not enough behavioural understanding of these compounds present in the Highly Active Liquor (HAL) for effective Post Operational Clean Out (POCO) strategic planning. As the HASTs do not have an in situ monitoring system the behaviour of the HAL cannot be directly observed. Therefore, as with this research, non-radioactive simulants can be utilised to aid behavioural understanding to assist with the planning of future waste management programs. CPM, along with two different morphologies of ZM were characterised and compared to the common oxide particle material titanium dioxide (TiO{sub 2}). The study provides a detailed physical characterisation of the simulants including: particle shape, particle size, water content and crystal structure, along with zeta particle potential, suspension settling and compressive yield stress. CPM was found to be spheroidal in nature with a particle size of 275 nm and an x value of 13 H{sub 2}O which crystallises as a cubic lattice with space group Pn-3m. ZM was found to have a range of morphologies from cuboidal to wheat-sheaf, varying in size from 10 μm to 20 μm, with an x value of between 3 and 4 H{sub 2}O, which crystallise as a body-centred tetragonal lattice with space group I4{sub 1cd}. TiO{sub 2} used as a comparison simulant was found to be spheroidal in shape with particle size of 725 nm. The isoelectric points (IEPs) of the two ZM samples (ZM-A and ZM-B) with different morphologies were found to be pH 2.5, while for TiO{sub 2} it was pH 3.2. For CPM it could not be confidently identified due to its instability within the acidic environment. The settling rates and compressive yield stress of all simulants were tested in both water and 2 M nitric acid, conditions that replicate the HASTs. TiO{sub 2}, ZM-A and ZM-B all found settled faster in acid than in water. For CPM, slightly faster settling in acid was measured. For all samples it was found that as the particle concentration increased the settling rate decreased, which is a result of hindered settling. For compressive yield stress, similar trends were observed for CPM with little variation in its behaviour in acid and water, suggesting that the particles are highly aggregated in both fluids. For ZM samples little change in equilibrium volume fraction was measured with an increase in pressure (both acid and water). However, overall the sediment bed was denser in water, a result of the rapid settling in acid not allowing the non-spherical particles to pack in an ordered manner. It has been highlighted that both CPM and ZM within the acidic conditions of the HASTs, result in unstable and aggregated compounds, which settle quickly to form large open networks. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

Remote Robotic Equipment for Retrieval of High Level Waste to Support Environmental Closure - 18162

The Idaho Cleanup Project contractor, Fluor Idaho, LLC, is responsible for managing HLW calcine stored in the Calcined Solids Storage Facility at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center. The Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center is a DOE managed facility located at the INL Site in the remote portions of southeast Idaho. In 2016, DOE directed Fluor Idaho to develop and test a full-scale retrieval system to demonstrate the ability to safely retrieve HLW calcine from the Calcined Solids Storage Facility for future retrieval and processing. Removing HLW calcine from the State of Idaho is required by the 1995 Settlement Agreement, which mandates that DOE have HLW calcine ready to be moved out of Idaho by December 2035. Fluor Idaho is currently testing retrieval and transfer concepts to ensure that the Calcined Solids Storage Facility is placed in a final configuration that is protective of human health and the environment after HLW calcine has been removed to the maximum extent practical. This paper describes the full-scale prototype that will be used to prove retrieval and transfer system design capabilities, verify operating parameters, and establish a basis for calcine retrieval efficacy. Additionally, it describes the retrieval (bulk and residual) and visual monitoring systems that were designed and tested in 2017 and will continue to be tested with the full-scale prototype. Testing (i.e., full-scale mockup, bulk retrieval, residual clean-out, and visualization monitoring) performed by Fluor Idaho will demonstrate the maximum extent practical of HLW calcine removal that is achievable. This is critical to (1) establish criteria for ending calcine removal activities, (2) evaluate cost and benefits associated with performing additional removal, and (3) ensure clean up and closure standards under applicable requirements (e.g., statutes, orders, and agreements) are met. (authors)

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DOE OSTI2018

Adsorptive Removal of Cs-137 and Sr-90 from Water in the Spent Fuel Pool of Taiwan Research Reactor - 18169

The cleanup of spent fuel pool in Taiwan Research Reactor (TRR) is a significant milestone in the decommissioning project of TRR. Due to the water was polluted by the ruptured spent nuclear fuel rods, the fission products and actinides were required to be removed from the water prior to transporting the water to the radioactive liquid wastes treatment plant. A granular aluminosilicate adsorbent (namely GWC) was loaded into a special designed water submersion adsorber to remove radionuclides from water in consideration of the subsequent retrieving after used. The unit is able to be placed underwater without heavy shield shroud, and easily to be assembled and disassembled. More than 95% of β-emitters had been removed from the 980 m{sup 3} of contaminated water in the SFP and generated about 1.5 m{sup 3} of spent GWC which adsorbed with 4*10{sup 12} Bq of radionuclides. (authors)

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