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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Criteria and evaluation of three decontamination techniques

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:142489
Past decontamination and solvent recovery activities at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP), which is part of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), have resulted in the accumulation of 1.5 million gallons of radioactively contaminated sodium-bearing liquid waste. Future decontamination activities at the ICPP could result in the production of 5 million gallons or more of sodium-bearing waste using the current decontamination techniques of chemical/water flushes and steam jet cleaning. This waste requires a large amount of cold chemical additive to process because the low melting temperatures of sodium and potassium salts cause agglomeration in the bed of the calciner vessel. Criteria have been established for evaluating methods and technologies available for decontaminating equipment and facilities. The criteria were weighted according to their relative importance using a Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving process. These criteria were used to rank three decontamination techniques new to the ICPP: laser ablation, liquid abrasive blasting and CO{sub 2} pellet blasting, against the standard decontamination techniques of sodium-based chemical cleaning and water/steam jets used.
Research Organization:
Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Co., Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC07-84ID12435
OSTI ID:
142489
Report Number(s):
WINCO--1187; ON: DE94008798
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English