Offsite source recovery project - ten years of sealed source recovery and disposal
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- NNSA
The Global Threat Reduction Initiative's (GTRI) Offsite Source Recovery Project (OSRP) has been recovering excess and unwanted radioactive sealed sources for ten years. In January 2009, GTRI announced that the project had recovered 20,000 sealed radioactive sources (this number has since increased to more than 23,000). This project grew out of early efforts at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to recover and disposition excess Plutonium-239 (Pu-239) sealed sources that were distributed in the 1960s and 1970s under the Atoms for Peace Program. Decades later, these sources began to exceed their special form certifications or fall out of regular use. As OSRP has collected and stored sealed sources, initially using 'No Path Forward' waste exemptions for storage within the Department of Energy (DOE) complex, it has consistently worked to create disposal pathways for the material it has recovered. The project was initially restricted to recovering sealed sources that would meet the definition of Greater-than-Class-C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste, assisting DOE in meeting its obligations under the Low-level Radioactive Waste Policy Act Amendments (PL 99-240) to provide disposal for this type of waste. After being transferred from DOE-Environmental Management (EM) to the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to be part of GTRI, OSRP's mission was expanded to include not only material that would be classified as GTCC when it became waste, but also any other materials that might constitute a 'national security consideration.' It was recognized at the time that the GTCC category was a waste designation having to do with environmental consequence, rather than the threat posed by deliberate or accidental misuse. The project faces barriers to recovery in many areas, but disposal continues to be one of the more difficult to overcome. This paper discusses OSRP's disposal efforts over its 10-year history. For sources meeting the DOE definition of 'transuranic,' OSRP has achieved many milestones, including defense determinations for various isotopes, a WIPP RCRA permit modification to accommodate headspace gas sampling requirements, and approval of a peer-reviewed non-assay radiological characterization methodology. For non-transuranic sources, which OSRP began to recover in 2004, OSRP has achieved NEP A coverage for storage and implemented consolidated storage at both DOE and commercial locations, as well as completing several specific disposal operations. The closure of the Barnwell low-level waste disposal site in 2008 has left 36 states with absolutely no commercial disposal pathway for most sealed sources, increasing the demands on OSRP. This and other current challenges and future work will also be discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 983918
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-10-00258; LA-UR-10-258; TRN: US1005197
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM 2010 ; March 7, 2010 ; Phoenix, AZ
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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