Contamination Control: Challenges and Innovative Design Solutions utilized at Chalk River Laboratories - 19263

Conference · Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2019

OSTI ID:23003025

Goode, Bryan ^[1]; Thambithurai, Godwin ^[2]

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1. Rolls-Royce Civil Nuclear Canada Ltd., Peterborough, Ontario (Canada)
2. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories - Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, Ontario (Canada)

CNL has operated research reactors at the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) site since 1947, generating a variety of spent nuclear fuel wastes produced by irradiating metallic uranium and other prototype fuels. This legacy waste has been stored in below-grade, vertical cylindrical steel and concrete structures known as Tile Holes. Ongoing monitoring of the legacy waste has identified moisture resulting from incomplete drying prior to emplacement, surface water and humidity. The undesirable storage conditions result in corrosion of both the legacy waste and the storage containers. Continued storage in these conditions may result in further degradation of the storage container and contamination of the surrounding environment. In 2004, the Fuel Packaging and Storage (FPS) Project was initiated, with the objective to develop a complete system to safely retrieve legacy waste from these Tile Holes as well as provide a stable storage environment until a final long-term management plan is established. Contamination control during retrieval, transfer and repackaging operations is critical for personnel and environmental safety. The significant challenges with retrieval of the legacy waste from the Tile Holes includes management of loose collateral liquid and solids that will be brought into the system, with the retrieved waste container. During the retrieval, transfer and repackaging operation, the challenge was to: 1) Prevent an environmental release by potentially transferring these contaminants onto the external surface of the Tile Hole Array; 2) Prevent an environmental release and ensure personnel safety while transporting the legacy waste; 3) Control release of contaminants into the new clean storage container while preventing contamination of the packaging equipment. To address the first source of contamination, a debris guide liner capable of interfacing with multiple Tile Hole configurations was integrated within the Retrieval Flask to limit contamination of the flask interior and to direct collateral liquids and solids back into the Tile Hole. The system uses a multi-function sealed Shield Gate and Drip Tray to retain and prevent the contaminants from escaping while transferring the legacy waste. This gate, along with a thin walled, Disposable Debris Guide Liner (DDGL) is an innovative solution developed to control the flow characteristics of the residual waste and to contain the waste to protect the internal components of the repackaging equipment. The development of the complete solution was further challenged as the DDGL must not tear or rip and must compact inside the new storage containers for a range of legacy waste storage containers. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
• OSTI ID: 23003025
• Report Number(s): INIS-US-21-WM-19263; TRN: US21V1141043358
• Resource Relation: Conference: WM2019: 45. Annual Waste Management Conference, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 3-7 Mar 2019; Other Information: Country of input: France; 2 refs.; available online at: https://www.xcdsystem.com/wmsym/2019/index.html
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
CASKS
CHALK RIVER NUCLEAR LABS
CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION
HUMIDITY
OPERATION
PACKAGING
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RESEARCH REACTORS
SPENT FUELS
SURFACE CONTAMINATION
URANIUM