Burnt Mountain Alaska RTG Extraction, Transport and Disposal Project - 17359
Conference
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OSTI ID:22802382
- National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec) P.O. Box 98521, Las Vegas, NV 89193-8521 (United States)
- Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185 (United States)
- Air Force Technical Applications Center, 10989 South Patrick Drive, Patrick AFB, FL 32925 (United States)
- U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration Nevada Field Office, P.O. Box 98518, Las Vegas, NV 89193-8518 (United States)
The Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC), headquartered at Patrick Air Force Base (AFB), Florida, removed excess nuclear material from one of the center's seismic arrays on Burnt Mountain, Alaska, after nearly 15 years of un-operability, and transferred it to a the low-level waste disposal facility at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). Ten radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), were used as a power source by AFTAC at its array 97 kilometers (60 miles) north of the Arctic Circle. Originally placed on Burnt Mountain in 1973, the first RTG was installed to power a single seismometer. Twelve years later, due to the increase in communications equipment and demand for additional power, nine more RTGs were placed at the site. For the next 17 years, the RTGs were operated and maintained by AFTAC's Detachment 460 based at Eielson AFB near Fairbanks, Alaska, and were used because of their high reliability and low maintenance requirements to determine if regional seismic activity was caused by nuclear explosions or naturally-occurring events such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, etc. AFTAC's primary mission is to verify compliance with nuclear test ban treaties. In 1992, a tundra fire encroached on the Burnt Mountain site and damaged some of the data cables. Despite the fact the fire did not impact the generators themselves, it raised public concern among nearby inhabitants about the safety of using radioactive material as a power source at the station. The Air Force, in coordination with multiple agencies and mission partners, made the decision to remove the RTGs and relocate them to NNSS for permanent disposal. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22802382
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US--19-WM-17359
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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