It Just Keeps Getting Better-Tru Waste Inventory
- Los Alamos National Laboratory-Carlsbad Operations, Carlsbad, NM (United States)
- U.S. Department of Energy Carlsbad, Field Office, Carlsbad, NM (United States)
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) opened on March 26, 1999, becoming the nation's first deep geologic repository for the permanent disposal of defense-generated transuranic (TRU) waste. In May 1998, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) certified WIPP and re-certified WIPP in March 2006. The knowledge of TRU waste inventory is fundamental to packaging, transportation, disposal strategies, resource allocation, and is also imperative when working in a regulatory framework. TRU waste inventory data are used to define the waste that will fill the WIPP repository in terms of volume, radionuclides, waste material parameters, other chemical components, and to model the impact of the waste on the performance of the WIPP over a 10,000-year evolution. The data that pertain to TRU waste is defined in the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act (LWA), as '..waste containing more that 100 nanocuries of alpha-emitting transuranic isotopes per gram of waste, with half-lives greater than 20 years..' Defining TRU waste further, the wastes are classified as either contact-handled (CH) or remote-handled (RH) TRU waste, depending on the dose rate at the surface of the waste container. CH TRU wastes are packaged with an external surface dose rate not greater than 200 milli-rem (mrem) per hour, while RH TRU wastes are packaged with an external surface dose rate of 200 mrem per hour or greater. The Los Alamos National Laboratory-Carlsbad Operations (LANL-CO) Inventory Team has developed a powerful new database, the Comprehensive Inventory Database (CID), to maintain the TRU waste inventory information. The CID is intended to replace the Transuranic Waste Baseline Inventory Database (TWBID), Revision 2.1, as the central inventory information repository for tracking all existing and potential (TRU) waste generated across the Department of Energy (DOE) TRU waste complex. It is also the source for information submitted for the Annual TRU Waste Inventory Reports some of which will be used in future Compliance Re-certification Applications (CRAs) for the WIPP. Currently, the DOE is preparing for the second re-certification, CRA-2009. The CID contains comprehensive TRU waste inventory that is consistent, relevant, and easily accessible to support DOE needs, not only the CRAs and performance assessments, but also waste management planning activities and other regulatory needs (e.g., National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses). The comprehensive inventory contains information obtained via inventory updates and approved acceptable knowledge (AK) characterization information to ensure inventory data integrity is maintained and the inventory is current. The TRU waste inventory is maintained in the CID under configuration management as defined in the LANL-CO Quality Assurance Program. The CID was developed using Microsoft{sup TM} Access Data Project{sup TM} (ADP) technology with a Microsoft SQL Server{sup TM} back end. The CID is user friendly, contains more fields, provides for easy upload of data, and has the capability to generate fully qualified data reports. To go along with the new database, the LANL-CO Inventory Team has developed an improved data collection/screening process and has excellent communications with the TRU waste site personnel. WIPP has now received over 6,000 shipments, emplaced over 50,000 cubic meters of CH waste, and successfully completed one re-certification. With a new robust qualified database, the CID, to maintain the inventory information, the TRU waste inventory information is continuously improving in quality, accuracy, and usability (better). (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9 - 332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21319794
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-10-WM-08426; TRN: US10V0607061985
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2008 Waste Management Symposium - WM2008/WM'08: HLW, TRU, LLW/ILW, Mixed, Hazardous Wastes and Environmental Management - Phoenix Rising: Moving Forward in Waste Management, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 24-28 Feb 2008; Other Information: Country of input: France; 28 refs
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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