Alternate Packaging Options for Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Disposal at WIPP - 19093
- Weston Solutions, Inc. (United States)
- Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico (United States)
Sandia National Laboratories/New Mexico (Sandia) began a remote-handled (RH) transuranic (TRU) repackaging campaign two weeks before the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) shutdown in February 2014. Since a contract with Nuclear Waste Partnerships (NWP), the WIPP Management and Operation (M and O) contractor, was already in place for certified visual examination (VE) and dose-to-curie (DTC) support, repackaging continued and was completed in October 2015. Twenty-five 55-gallon drums of RH TRU waste were packaged, awaiting certification and shipment to WIPP. However, in February 2017 at the National TRU Program (NTP) Corporate Board meeting, Sandia learned that RH TRU waste normally transported in removable lid canisters (RLCs) and 72-B casks was not being accepted for disposal when WIPP re-opened after the shutdown. One option, shielded container assemblies (SCAs), was available and approved for RH TRU waste disposal at the WIPP. Sandia made the decision to pursue the use of SCAs. The use of SCAs allow RH TRU waste to be shipped as contact-handled (CH) in HalfPACTs, emplaced on the floor of the WIPP instead of in boreholes in the walls, if the dose rate is less than 200 millirem/hour on contact. The RH TRU waste remains on the WIPP inventory as RH. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 23002915
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US--21-WM-19093
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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