The LSDDPs were conceived by the D&D Focus Area to demonstrate innovative D&D technologies alongside baseline commercial technologies as a part of an actual full-scale environmental management project. They began as large-scale demonstration projects (LSDPs), but the focus area recently added a second "D" to emphasize deployment. Cost and performance data for the technologies successfully demonstrated at an LSDDP will be published in Innovative Technology Summary Reports (ITSRs). To date, eight ITSRs have been published about D&D technologies demonstrated at the CP-5 LSDDP (see related article).

The CP-5 was designed to supply neutrons for research. It was fueled by highly enriched uranium and cooled by heavy water. The reactor operated almost continuously for 25 years until its final shutdown in 1979, when the fuel rods were removed from the reactor and the heavy water was drained from the system.

The reactor containment building is 70 feet wide and 42 feet high, with reinforced concrete walls approximately 1 foot thick. The fuel rod storage area has storage tubes built into the floor to house highly radioactive materials. Significant work in the LSDDP included removal of the reactor internals and biological shield and decontamination of the reactor building, including the fuel rod storage area, hot cell, the radioactive material storage and handling facilities, and fuel pool water and structure.

The Strategic Alliance, an integrating contractor team with contractor and federal representatives, contributed varied and broad backgrounds in environmental management and technology development to the LSDDP at CP-5. Rob Rose, the manager of D&D Operations for Argonne National Laboratory, said the LSDDP offered "a unique opportunity to interface with the private-sector companies that do D&D and have many of the same D&D issues as DOE." He and his team at CP-5 learned about technologies available in the private sector and transferred what Argonne and DOE were using back to the private sector. The Strategic Alliance screened and evaluated 58 potential technologies for demonstration in four problem areas: facility characterization, facility and equipment decontamination, dismantlement/robotics, and containment/worker protection.

The Strategic Alliance consisted of Argonne National Laboratory, 3M Corporation, Commonwealth Edison, Duke Engineering and Services, ICF Kaiser, and Florida International University. The group benefited from having members representing both problem holders and technology providers. According to Rose, when the problem holders had "pie in the sky" ideas, the technology providers would get them "grounded." These reality checks went both ways.

Technologies that enabled heavy demolition operations to take place without exposing workers to radiation were among the big winners at CP-5. One such technology was the Dual-Arm Work Platform (DAWP), a remotely operated deployment platform that used a variety of end effectors to dismantle the reactor's internals. Another remotely operated work platform, Rosie, was used in conjunction with DAWP. Rosie deploys tools weighing up to 2,000 pounds. The Brokk Remote Controlled Concrete Demolition System dismantled the reinforced concrete biological shield walls and reactor pedestal and then loaded the rubble into containers. With Brokk, this work took 16 days rather than the 6 months it would have taken for a manual jackhammer to do the job.

Rose said some of the technologies demonstrated during the LSDDP are still being used in CP-5's D&D operations. Others are not currently in use only because they are not needed at this stage of the project. Rose predicts that some will be brought back for future D&D projects at CP-5.

According to Rose, D&D operations at CP-5 are 75 percent complete. The entire project is expected to be done by December 1999. After decontamination of the building and demolition of the reactor core, CP-5 will be an empty shell. The building is already 50 years old, however, so Rose says its future is uncertain.

Two other LSDDPs initiated shortly after CP-5, C Reactor Interim Safe Storage Project at Hanford and the Fernald Plant 1 Complex Decommissioning, are ongoing. An additional four are starting in 1998 (see below). For more information about the LSDDPs and other D&D Focus Area projects, see the homepage at http://www.wpi.org/doe/focus/dd.

Four LSDDP startups planned for 1998
The D&D Focus Area plans to start four additional LSDDPs in 1998.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is the site of one of the new LSDDPs. Ten to 12 innovative and improved technologies will be demonstrated to characterize, decontaminate, size-reduce, package, and dispose of large pieces of metallic transuranic (TRU) waste resulting from 313 surplus glove boxes used for handling plutonium. Potential cost savings and mortgage reductions are estimated at $75–180 million.

Another new LSDDP will be at the Mound Site in Ohio at four main tritium facilities with over 275,000 square feet of floor space. These facilities contain over 400 tritium laboratories with more than 1,000 linear feet of tritium glove boxes, fume hoods, miles of process piping, and substantial quantities of tritium-contaminated equipment and process systems. Twenty to 25 innovative and improved technologies will be demonstrated with a potential cost savings and mortgage reduction estimated at $25 million.

The third new LSDDP is the first that the DDFA will sponsor with the Office of Nuclear Material and Facility Stabilization: the deactivation of Savannah River Site's 321-M Fuel Fabrication Facility. This 60,000-square foot facility currently has small quantities of reactor fuel material that require special control and accountability. Once the material is removed and the deactivation is complete, the facility will be much less expensive to maintain. Six to 10 innovative and improved technologies will be demonstrated in key areas, including characterization, decontamination, dismantlement, and waste management. The potential cost savings and mortgage reduction are estimated to be $20 million.

The fourth new LSDDP will involve the decommissioning of the Fuel Storage Canals and Associated Underwater and Underground Facilities at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. In addition to the fuel storage canals, the LSDDP will include two underwater reactors with an interconnecting water canal, Test Reactor Area filter pits, and the Initial Engine Test Control Room. Sixteen to 18 improved and innovative technologies will be demonstrated, and the resultant deployments could generate a potential cost savings and mortgage reduction of $20 million.