Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Remote-handled Transuranic Waste Disposal Strategy PDF Download

Author: United States. Department of Energy. Carlsbad Area Office
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ISBN:
Category : Alpha-bearing wastes
Languages : en
Pages : 42

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Author: National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on the Characterization of Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
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ISBN:
Category : Alpha-bearing wastes
Languages : en
Pages : 52

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Author: National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on the Characterization of Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
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ISBN:
Category : Alpha-bearing wastes
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309183138
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is a deep underground mined facility for the disposal of transuranic waste resulting from the nation's defense program. Transuranic waste is defined as waste contaminated with transuranic radionuclides with half-life greater than 20 years and activity greater than 100 nanocuries per gram. The waste mainly consists of contaminated protective clothing, rags, old tools and equipment, pieces of dismantled buildings, chemical residues, and scrap materials. The total activity of the waste expected to be disposed at the WIPP is estimated to be approximately 7 million curies, including 12,900 kilograms of plutonium distributed throughout the waste in very dilute form. The WIPP is located near the community of Carlsbad, in southeastern New Mexico. The geological setting is a 600-meter thick, 250 million-year-old saltbed, the Salado Formation, lying 660 meters below the surface. The National Research Council (NRC) has been providing the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) scientific and technical evaluations of the WIPP since 1978. The committee's task is twofold: (1) to identify technical issues that can be addressed to enhance confidence in the safe and long-term performance of the repository and (2) to identify opportunities for improving the National Transuranic (TRU) Program for waste management, especially with regard to the safety of workers and the public. This is the first full NRC report issued following the certification of the facility by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on May 18, 1998. An interim report was issued by the committee in April 2000 and is reproduced in this report. The main findings and recommendations from the interim report have been incorporated into the body of this report. The overarching finding and recommendation of this report is that the activity that would best enhance confidence in the safe and long-term performance of the repository is to monitor critical performance parameters during the long pre-closure phase of repository operations (35 to possibly 100 years). Indeed, in the first 50 to 100 years the rates of important processes such as salt creep, brine inflow (if any), and microbial activity are predicted to be the highest and will be less significant later. The committee recommends that the results of the on-site monitoring program be used to improve the performance assessment for recertification purposes. These results will determine whether the need for a new performance assessment is warranted. For the National TRU Program, the committee finds that the DOE is implementing many of the recommendations of its interim report. It is important that the DOE continue its efforts to improve the packaging, characterization, and transportation of the transuranic waste.

Author:
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 145

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Author:
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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This document identifies the necessary actions for addressing current questions concerning the safe and efficient disposal of remote-handled transuranic wastes that have been generated through Department of Energy activities. In addition, this document presents summaries of existing information and analyses regarding the potential alternatives for disposing of remote-handled (RH) transuranic (TRU) waste at the Department of Energy (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). A further discussion of DOE's approach for addressing RH-TRU issues is contained in the document, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Disposal Strategy, DOE/WIPP-95-1090 (DOE, 1995a). Of this stored and projected inventory, approximately 30% can be characterized with current technology and subsequently certified to meet the waste acceptance criteria for disposal at WIPP; characterization of the remaining 70% will require the use of alternative techniques. At most of the generator sites, characterization equipment and facilities need to be procured in order for the sites to certify waste for shipment either to WIPP or to an interim site. If surface dose rates are too high, the use of non-invasive techniques such as non-destructive examination (NDE) and non-destructive assay (NDA) may be precluded. Characterization methods using NDA can be effectively used on RH-TRU wastes with surface dose rates of less than 1.0 rem/hr (neutron); NDE methods are effective on waste with surface dose rates of less than 10 rem/hr (gamma). The ability to use current NDE technology on waste with surface dose rates above 10 rem/hr will need to be demonstrated. Alternate characterization techniques, such as examination within a hot cell, could be used for the remaining waste; however, such techniques are labor intensive and would require additional effort to gather assay data. Improvements in characterization capabilities are being pursued through future technology development initiatives.

Author: James E. Strumbaugh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Radioactive waste sites
Languages : en
Pages : 22

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This document presents a detailed schedule for the implementation of the strategy for managing defense remote-handled (RH) transuranic (TRU) waste. The baseline management strategy was defined in the Defense Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Cost/Schedule Optimization Study and is summarized in this document. Also included are revised RH TRU waste inventory projections, current site management plans, a list of key decision points and milestones, and a discussion of uncertainties associated with management of RH TRU waste. The plans are summarized in a detailed schedule diagram and in an RH TRU waste work off diagram.

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309498619
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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In 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine issued an Interim Report evaluating the general viability of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration's (DOE-NNSA's) conceptual plans for disposing of 34 metric tons (MT) of surplus plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a deep geologic repository near Carlsbad, New Mexico. It provided a preliminary assessment of the general viability of DOE-NNSA's conceptual plans, focused on some of the barriers to their implementation. This final report addresses the remaining issues and echoes the recommendations from the interim study.

Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Subcommittee
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Radioactive waste disposal in the ground
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Author: Charles Merrill Crout
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Radioactive waste disposal
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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