Innovative technologies for recycling and reusing radioactively contaminated materials from DOE facilities

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Environmental Professional; (United States)

OSTI ID:6176232

Bossart, S J ^[1]; Hyde, J ^[2]

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1. Dept. of Energy, Morgantown, WV (United States)
2. Dept. of Energy, Germantown, MD (United States)

One of the US Department of Energy's (DOE) major goals is to clean up its contaminated facilities by the year 2019. The primary contaminants at DOE sites are radioactive materials, organic compounds, and heavy metals. The most common radioactive materials are isotopes of uranium and plutonium, although lesser quantities of thorium, technetium, neptunium and americium are also found. Organic contamination includes lubricating oils, cutting fluids, kerosene, solvents, and polychlorinated biphenyls. Heavy metal contaminants include mercury, arsenic, chromium, lead, and cadmium. The Office of Technology Development (OTD) within DOE's Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management is charged with developing innovative technologies to clean up DOE facilities. The DOE's Morgantown Energy Technology Center is assisting the OTD by procuring and managing research projects to develop the innovative technologies. These innovative technologies promise to be faster, better, cheaper and safer than the current suite of environmental remediation technologies. With sufficient decontamination, much of the materials from the DOE facilities could be released as scrap to the commercial sector or reused within the DOE complex. The potential for recycling or reusing materials, including strategic metals such as nickel, is enormous if the materials are properly decontaminated. This paper will discuss innovative technologies to decontaminate and recycle or reuse scrap metal, concrete, and process equipment.

• OSTI ID: 6176232
• Report Number(s): CONF-930523-; CODEN: EPROD9; TRN: 93-019792
• Journal Information: Environmental Professional; (United States), Vol. Supplement; Conference: 18. National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) annual conference on current and future priorities for environmental management, Raleigh, NC (United States), 24-26 May 1993; ISSN 0191-5398
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
RECYCLING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
SCRAP METALS
US DOE
WASTE MANAGEMENT
AMERICIUM ISOTOPES
ARSENIC
CADMIUM
CHROMIUM
CUTTING FLUIDS
KEROSENE
LEAD
LUBRICATING OILS
MERCURY
NEPTUNIUM ISOTOPES
ORGANIC SOLVENTS
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS
REMEDIAL ACTION
TECHNETIUM ISOTOPES
TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION
THORIUM ISOTOPES
URANIUM ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
AROMATICS
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
DISTILLATES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GAS OILS
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
ISOTOPES
LIQUID FUELS
LUBRICANTS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
METALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OILS
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM DISTILLATES
PETROLEUM FRACTIONS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
SCRAP
SEMIMETALS
SOLID WASTES
SOLVENTS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTES
052000* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Management