LANL OPERATING EXPERIENCE WITH THE WAND AND HERCULES PROTOTYPE SYSTEMS
Abstract
The Waste Assay for Nonradioactive Disposal (WAND) and the High Efficiency Radiation Counters for Ultimate Low Emission Sensitivity (HERCULES) prototype systems have been operating at Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL's) Solid Waste Operation's (SWO'S) non-destructive assay (NDA) building since 1997 and 1998, respectively. These systems are the cornerstone of the verification program for low-density Green is Clean (GIC) waste at the Laboratory. GIC waste includes all non-regulated waste generated in radiological controlled areas (RCAS) that has been actively segregated as clean (i.e., nonradioactive) through the use of waste generator acceptable knowledge (AK). The use of this methodology alters LANL's past practice of disposing of all room trash generated in nuclear facilities in radioactive waste landfills. Waste that is verified clean can be disposed of at the Los Alamos County Landfill. It is estimated that 50-90% of the low-density room trash from radioactive material handling areas at Los Alamos might be free of contamination. This approach avoids the high cost of disposal of clean waste at a radioactive waste landfill. It also reduces consumption of precious space in the radioactive waste landfill where disposal of this waste provides no benefit to the public or the environment. Preserving low level waste (LLW)more »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 763922
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-00-4552
TRN: US0100113
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: SPECTRUM 2000, CHATTANOOGA, TN, 09/24/2000--09/28/2000; Other Information: PBD: 1 Sep 2000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; 12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES; CONTROLLED AREAS; LANL; LOS ALAMOS; NUCLEAR FACILITIES; RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS; RADIOACTIVE WASTES; SANITARY LANDFILLS; SOLID WASTES
Citation Formats
GRUETZMACHER, K M, FOXX, C L, and MYERS, S C. LANL OPERATING EXPERIENCE WITH THE WAND AND HERCULES PROTOTYPE SYSTEMS. United States: N. p., 2000.
Web.
GRUETZMACHER, K M, FOXX, C L, & MYERS, S C. LANL OPERATING EXPERIENCE WITH THE WAND AND HERCULES PROTOTYPE SYSTEMS. United States.
GRUETZMACHER, K M, FOXX, C L, and MYERS, S C. 2000.
"LANL OPERATING EXPERIENCE WITH THE WAND AND HERCULES PROTOTYPE SYSTEMS". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/763922.
@article{osti_763922,
title = {LANL OPERATING EXPERIENCE WITH THE WAND AND HERCULES PROTOTYPE SYSTEMS},
author = {GRUETZMACHER, K M and FOXX, C L and MYERS, S C},
abstractNote = {The Waste Assay for Nonradioactive Disposal (WAND) and the High Efficiency Radiation Counters for Ultimate Low Emission Sensitivity (HERCULES) prototype systems have been operating at Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL's) Solid Waste Operation's (SWO'S) non-destructive assay (NDA) building since 1997 and 1998, respectively. These systems are the cornerstone of the verification program for low-density Green is Clean (GIC) waste at the Laboratory. GIC waste includes all non-regulated waste generated in radiological controlled areas (RCAS) that has been actively segregated as clean (i.e., nonradioactive) through the use of waste generator acceptable knowledge (AK). The use of this methodology alters LANL's past practice of disposing of all room trash generated in nuclear facilities in radioactive waste landfills. Waste that is verified clean can be disposed of at the Los Alamos County Landfill. It is estimated that 50-90% of the low-density room trash from radioactive material handling areas at Los Alamos might be free of contamination. This approach avoids the high cost of disposal of clean waste at a radioactive waste landfill. It also reduces consumption of precious space in the radioactive waste landfill where disposal of this waste provides no benefit to the public or the environment. Preserving low level waste (LLW) disposal capacity for truly radioactive waste is critical in this era when expanding existing radioactive waste landfills or permitting new ones is resisted by regulators and stakeholders. This paper describes the operating experience with the WAND and HERCULES since they began operation at SWO. Waste for verification by the WAND system has been limited so far to waste from the Plutonium Facility and the Solid Waste Operations Facility. A total of461 ft3 (13.1 m3) of low-density shredded waste and paper have been verified clean by the WAND system. The HERCULES system has been used to verify waste from four Laboratory facilities. These are the Solid Waste Operations Facility, the TA-48 Chemistry Facility, the Shops Facility, and the Environmental Facility. A total of 3150 ft3 (89.3 m3) of low-density waste has been verified clean by the HERCULES system.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/763922},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2000},
month = {Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2000}
}