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

Decision-making Framework to Support the End-of-Life Management of High-Activity Radioactive Sources

Conference ·

Sealed radioactive sources are used for an extremely wide range of purposes, including as radiation sources in various nuclear facilities, universities, hospitals, biomedical and industrial applications, as well as for geological prospecting and exploration. The proper management of these sealed radioactive sources once they have reached their end-of-life is still a global challenge. Very few field-tested Mobile Hot Cells (MHC) exist in the world to support the end-of-life management of disused high-activity radioactive sources. One of the critical challenges that a source recovery team encounters on each site is to find adequate space, and access to that space to complete the staging and recapture process with a MHC; this process is tedious, uncertain, and time-consuming. Therefore, it is essential to understand the planning and management of the MHC setup and takedown. Currently, there isn't an single capable planning tool that will provide an effective medium to plan, inform, educate, and communicate knowledge about the environment where the MHC will be deployed. We present a novel approach for the planning and management of the deployment of the MHC to several different sites that relies on technology. Furthermore, this planning tool will support collaboration, promote information sharing, and foster better decision making processes, resulting in a more efficient, and reliable setup and source recovery with the MHC.

Research Organization:
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
58
DOE Contract Number:
AC07-05ID14517
OSTI ID:
2299541
Report Number(s):
INL/CON-23-73437-Rev000
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English