Radiological decontamination, survey, and statistical release method for vehicles
Earth-moving vehicles (e.g., dump trucks, belly dumps) commonly haul radiologically contaminated materials from a site being remediated to a disposal site. Traditionally, each vehicle must be surveyed before being released. The logistical difficulties of implementing the traditional approach on a large scale demand that an alternative be devised. A statistical method for assessing product quality from a continuous process was adapted to the vehicle decontamination process. This method produced a sampling scheme that automatically compensates and accommodates fluctuating batch sizes and changing conditions without the need to modify or rectify the sampling scheme in the field. Vehicles are randomly selected (sampled) upon completion of the decontamination process to be surveyed for residual radioactive surface contamination. The frequency of sampling is based on the expected number of vehicles passing through the decontamination process in a given period and the confidence level desired. This process has been successfully used for 1 year at the former uranium millsite in Monticello, Utah (a cleanup site regulated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act). The method forces improvement in the quality of the decontamination process and results in a lower likelihood that vehicles exceeding the surface contamination standards are offered for survey. Implementation of this statistical sampling method on Monticello projects has resulted in more efficient processing of vehicles through decontamination and radiological release, saved hundreds of hours of processing time, provided a high level of confidence that release limits are met, and improved the radiological cleanliness of vehicles leaving the controlled site.
- Research Organization:
- Rust Geotech, Inc., Grand Junction, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-86ID12584
- OSTI ID:
- 270693
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ID/12584-271; GJPO-MRAP-27; ON: DE96013690; TRN: 96:017649
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Jun 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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