Assessment of DOE radioactive scrap metal disposition options

Conference · Sat Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:457155

Butler, C R; Kasper, K M ^[1]; Bossart, S J ^[2]

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1. Waste Policy Institute, Morgantown, WV (United States)
2. Department of Energy, Morgantown, WV (United States)

The DOE has amassed a large amount of radioactively-contaminated scrap metal (RSM) as a result of past operations and decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) projects. The volume of RSM will continue to increase as a result of the D&D of more than 6,000 surplus facilities and many of the 14,000 operating facilities in the DOE complex. RSM can be either surface contaminated or volumetrically contaminated, or both, with varying amounts of radioactivity. Several options exist for the disposition of this RSM, including disposal as radioactive waste, recycling by decontamination and free-release for unrestricted use, or recycling for restricted reuse inside a DOE controlled area. The DOE Office of Science and Technology (EM-50) has been actively investing in technology and strategy development in support of restricted-reuse RSM recycling for the past several years. This paper will assess the nature of the RSM recycling issue, review past investment by DOE to develop technologies and strategies to recycle RSM, and then discuss some recommendations concerning future investments in support of RSM management. Available information on the supply of RSM will be presented in Section II. The regulatory and policy framework concerning recycling RSM will be presented in Section III. A review of DOE investment in RSM recycling technology and current programs will be presented in Section IV. The current and projected industrial capacity will be described in Section V. And, finally, a discussion of issues and recommendations regarding DOE technology development interests in RSM recycling will be presented in Section VI and VII, respectively.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Tennessee Univ., Knoxville, TN (United States). Energy, Environment and Resources Center
• OSTI ID: 457155
• Report Number(s): CONF-961089--; ON: DE97004100
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RECYCLING
SCRAP METALS
SURPLUS NUCLEAR FACILITIES
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
US DOE