 on the D&D focus area About the focus areas The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management has established an integrated approach for addressing waste issues based on problem, or focus areas. The focus areas are: subsurface contaminants; mixed waste characterization, treatment, and disposal; radioactive tank waste remediation; decontamination and decommissioning; and plutonium stabilization. Three crosscutting technology areas support the focus areas: characterization, monitoring, and sensor technology; efficient separations and processing; and robotics. This article is the second of a two-part series focusing on the decontamination and decommissioning focus area. Since fiscal year 1996, DDFA, managed through the Morgantown, West Virginia office of the Federal Energy Technology Center, has supported large-scale demonstration projects as a means of reducing the risk associated with the first-time use of technologies during deactivation or decommissioning operations at U.S. Department of Energy surplus facilities. The intent of the LSDPs is to show, at a scale convincing to the end user, that using a combination of innovative and commercial D&D technologies has substantial cost and other benefits compared to using baseline technologies. The first part of this article (see Initiatives, February 1997) highlighted technology demonstrations at the Chicago Pile 5 research reactor at Argonne National Laboratory-East near Chicago and the Plant 1 uranium processing facility at the Fernald Environmental Management Project Site near Cincinnati. This article will update activities at these two projects as well as highlight activities at the third ongoing demonstration project at the 105-C production reactor at the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. Argonne's CP-5 Reactor The Surface Contamination Monitor (Shonka Research Associates) uses a position-sensitive, gas-proportional counter to measure alpha and beta contamination on floor surfaces. The system was demonstrated in December 1996 on concrete areas on the main and service floors of the CP-5 facility, where portions of the floor contained fixed beta contamination. The monitor, mounted on a motorized cart, measures and records the location and level of contamination, which can then be displayed on an LCD screen for the operator. The survey data is then recombined in a post-survey processor to obtain visual representations of the surfaces surveyed and generate data reports detailing the actual results. The data can also be overlaid into a CAD drawing. The results of this demonstration are currently being analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the system compared to baseline manual surveys, which ranged from free release levels to greater than 700,000 dpm per 100 cm2 in the surveyed area. The GammaCam (AIL Systems) provides two-dimensional images of a gamma radiation field superimposed on the corresponding visual image. The system consists of a portable sensor head that contains a gamma-ray imaging system and a TV camera. The superimposed radiation and visual images are displayed on a standard portable PC monitor outside the radiation area. The device was tested in December 1996 for imaging radiological spills, isolating radiation sources inside a concrete vault, and detecting radiation leaks in temporary shielding. In one test, the image sensor was mounted on a crane hook and positioned above the CP-5 reactor. Several radiation leaks were clearly identified, and additional shielding was quickly positioned to reduce the largest source of radiation. The Pipe Crawler system (Radiologi- cal Services) was also demonstrated in December for surveying the fuel rod storage holes at CP-5 as well as a portion of a pair of 12-inch-diameter vent lines servicing the reactor area. The technology consists of a wheeled robot, or mule, on which is mounted an array of thin Geiger-Mueller detectors. The crawler was manually transported through pipes using flexible fiberglass rods, and measurements (counts-per-second) were recorded in a stepwise fashion. The technology functioned without significant problems and at expected throughput. Recorded count rates and survey locations were subsequently processed and resulted in measurements ranging from 150 to 700 dpm per 100 cm2 above background for the 5-inch-diameter fuel rod storage hole surveyed.
For more information on the Chicago Pile 5 Reactor demonstration project, contact: Dick Baker - DOE/CH Steve Bossart - DOE/FETC http://www.strategic-alliance.org Fernald's Plant 1 Most of the waste resulting from the D&D of the Fernald Site will be placed in the on-site disposal facility, or OSDF. During long-term storage as the outer shells and walls of old process equipment deteriorate, voids will be created, which could cause the OSDF's cap to subside. Cap subsidence could allow water to enter the OSDF. To address the problems caused by voids within the OSDF, the Plant 1 project will demonstrate technologies designed to fill voids for waste components destined for disposal at the OSDF. The first void-filling technology demonstrated at Plant 1 will be a low-density cellular concrete system by Pacific International Grout Company of Bellingham, Washington. LDCC is made by mixing portland cement with water, adding a foaming agent, and combining with a high-shear mixer. The resulting rigid, low-density cellular concrete is then injected into the process components.
The second technology demonstration will test the use of an expanded polyurethane foam as a void filler. In the formation of the polyurethane foam, two chemicals are mixed: a foaming agent and a catalyst. The two chemicals are kept separate until they reach the mixing gun, from which the mixture is immediately injected into the process components. Urethane Foam Specialists of Columbus, Ohio will apply this technology at Plant 1. The benefits of these void-filling technologies are that (1) they will reduce the need to physically segment process components, thereby decreasing costs and increasing personnel safety, and (2) due to the low density of these materials, they will eliminate the need for significantly larger material-handling equipment when transferring the filled components to the disposal site. For more information on the Plant 1 demonstration project, contact: Rod Warner - DOE/Fernald Steve Bossart - DOE/FETC Hanford's 105-C Reactor The last LSDP to be initiated in FY96 was the 105-C Reactor Interim Safe Storage Project. The C-Reactor facility is at DOE's Hanford Site on the south bank of the Columbia River in southeast Washington state. The C-Reactor is a full-scale plutonium production reactor built in 1952 and shut down in 1969. The scope of this LSDP is to place the 105-C Reactor facility in a low-cost, safe-storage condition for up to 75 years pending its final disposal. Due to radioactive decay, radiological hazards will substantially diminish during this period, as will the quantity of radioactive material. The LSDP includes demolition and removal of the 105-C building outside the reactor block shield wall and removal of the fuel storage basin. A suite of at least 20 innovative technologies will be deployed at full scale and evaluated during this project. There are 14 full-scale production reactors within the DOE weapons complex. Five are at the Savannah River Site, and the other nine are at the Hanford Site. These reactors stand to benefit from the C-Reactor work since the safe-storage concept is a low-cost, environmentally conscious, and practical alternative to immediate full-scale reactor building dismantlement. Commercial nuclear facilities as well as other contaminated DOE facilities, such as canyons and gaseous diffusion plants, will also benefit from technologies demonstrated at the C-Reactor. The integrating contractor team, consisting of representatives from Bechtel Hanford, the the Savannah River Site, regulatory agencies, and other international and domestic industry experts, has identified approximately 20 innovative technologies for demonstration during the course of the project. An innovative technology being deployed in the C-Reactor LSDP is the STREAM (System for Tracking Remediation, Engineering, Activities and Materials) Management Database System. This system, which was featured at the CP-5 open house in January, effectively manages the many documents associated with a D&D project. Using STREAM, workers can view digitized graphics and video footage of the work area without entry and review personnel qualifications by cross referencing electronic radiation work permits with training records. The project manager can review the status of ongoing projects. Based on early work done at C-Reactor, STREAM was adopted for use at the Heavy Water Components Test Reactor at the Savannah River Site and also for the Chernobyl Reactor cleanup. Another technology scheduled for demonstration in early 1997 is the Indoor Radiological Data Mapping System. This system, developed by Thermo Hanford, integrates Global Positioning System receivers with radiological detection equipment to provide electronic files containing both radiological and coordinate information. The system, which has been used to produce radiological maps of outdoor areas, will be tested to determine its effectiveness to track, in real time, the radiological detector indoors. The system will determine the position of a radiological detector as it moves across the subject of interest (wall, floor) and store the position coordinates of the detector as well as the radiological reading in electronic files. Customized software allows the system to display, in real time on the PC monitor, the survey track, a background view of a surface (i.e., doorways, pipe penetrations), and the current radiological reading(s). Radiological data points that exceed a user-defined set point are highlighted. In addition to the two technologies discussed, the following technologies have been selected for demonstration at the 105-C Reactor facility:
The 105-C Reactor project is also seeking innovative technologies from industry to address reactor stabilization, asphalt emulsion removal, structural steel decontamination and recycling, pipe cutting and removal, and waste sorting and segregation. For more information on the 105-C Reactor demonstration project, contact: Stephen Pulsford - Bechtel John Duda - DOE/FETC Future LSDPs On May 30, 1996, FETC solicited a second request for letter proposals for the purpose of identifying additional DOE facilities to conduct large-scale D&D demonstration projects. To diversify the suite of LSDPs and demonstrate innovative technologies on the most prevalent and urgent D&D problems, DDFA targeted projects on the following types of facilities:
The RLP resulted in 14 proposals from nine DOE sites. FETC has reviewed the proposals and expects to announce the selection of at least the next two LSDPs in the first quarter of 1997. The long-term goal of DDFA is to complete a total of eight projects before the end of calendar year 1999. Technology demonstrations in the eight LSDPs are expected to address at least 90 percent of the problems identified by DOE's Environmental Management customers. For more information about DDFA, contact: Paul Hart - DOE/FETC Jerry Hyde - DOE/HQ |
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