Advantages of the shielded containers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

Conference · Sat May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010

OSTI ID:1020528

Nelson, Roger A ^[1]; Dunagan, Sean C

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1. U.S. Department of Energy, Carlsbad, NM

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) disposal operations currently employ two different disposal methods: one for Contact Handled (CH) waste and another for Remote Handled (RH) waste. CH waste is emplaced in a variety of payload container configurations on the floor of each disposal room. In contrast, RH waste is packaged into a single type of canister and emplaced in pre-drilled holes in the walls of disposal rooms. Emplacement of the RH waste in the walls must proceed in advance of CH waste emplacement and therefore poses logistical constraints, in addition to the loss of valuable disposal capacity. To improve operational efficiency and disposal capacity, the Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed a shielded container for certain RH waste streams. RH waste with relatively low gammaemitting activity would be packaged in lead-lined containers, shipped to WIPP in existing certified transportation packages for CH waste and emplaced in WIPP among the stacks of CH waste containers on the floor of a disposal room. RH waste with high gamma-emitting activity would continue to be emplaced in the boreholes along the walls. The new RH container is similar to the nominal 208-liter (55-gallon) drum, however it includes about 2.5 cm (1 in) of lead, sandwiched between thick steel sheets. Furthermore, the top and bottom are made of thick plate steel to strengthening the package to meet transportation requirements. This robust configuration provides an overpack for materials that otherwise would be RH waste. This paper describes the container and the regulatory approach used to meet the requirements imposed by regulations that apply to WIPP. This includes a Performance Assessment used to evaluate WIPP's long-term performance and the DOE's approach to gain approval for the transportation of shielded containers. This paper also describes estimates of the DOE's RH transuranic waste inventory that may be packaged and emplaced in shielded containers. Finally, the paper includes a discussion of how the DOE proposes to track the waste packaged into shielded containers against the RH waste inventory and how this will comply with the regulated volume.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1020528
• Report Number(s): SAND2010-3494C; TRN: US1103747
• Resource Relation: Conference: Proposed for presentation at the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM) 2010 Conference held July 11-15, 2010 in Baltimore, MD.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
BOREHOLES
CAPACITY
CONFIGURATION
CONTAINERS
EFFICIENCY
FLOORS
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
PERFORMANCE
PLATES
POSITIONING
REGULATIONS
STEELS
WASTES
WIPP