New technologies aid DOE in site characterization, cleanup
The Department of Energy is using what reportedly is the world`s largest remotely operated mobile-work system to excavate a landfill contaminated with radioactive materials at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The 1,500-ton, self-propelled machine made by Sonsub Inc. (Houston) will span and excavate landfills up to 120 feet wide. As the unit digs, it will separate waste from the soil, package the waste for transport, then backfill the pit. DOE will use the machine to excavate Pit 9, a 400-foot-long, 120-foot-wide landfill that was used as a waste-disposal site in the 1960s. Using computer modeling applications to identify hazardous and radioactive wastes can protect workers from exposure and, in some cases, reduce remediation costs. Canberra Industries (Meridien, Conn.) in November was awarded a contract by EG and G Mound Applied Technologies to perform gamma spectroscopy radiological waste characterization on waste containers that have been stored since 1978 at the Mound site in Ohio. The 55-gallon drums and boxes at the site reportedly contain transuranic waste; however, officials say they anticipate that, once characterization is performed, about 25% of the waste will be downgraded to low-level waste (below 100nCI/gm). In another application involving landfill cleanup, Komar Industries Inc. (Groveport, Ohio) in late 1995 was contracted to design and construct a system for processing radioactive waste from an unnamed DOE landfill. The company says it will design a triauger with injector configuration to serve as a fully contained size-reduction, blending and feeding system that will allow engineers to blend a variety of wastes found at the site. Machined, O-ring, sealed surfaces will maintain a negative water column under normal operations. The system will be designed to handle pressures up to 10 bar, while the processor will have a 6-cubic-yard charge capacity and the ability to accept 15 to 20 charges per hour.
- OSTI ID:
- 194777
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Solutions, Vol. 9, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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