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Title: Nondestructive evaluation of low-level radioactive waste canisters for free-water content

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5529439

The United States Code of Federal Regulations, 10 CFR Part 61, mandates that free-standing liquid not exceed one percent of the volume of the radioactive waste in a container designed to ensure stability, and not exceed {1/2} percent of the volume in waste processed to a stable form. The present project was undertaken to provide a preliminary determination of methods which could assure compliance with the free liquid requirements for transportation and burial of low-level radioactive waste. This project conducted a literature search to identify nondestructive inspection techniques which could potentially be utilized to verify that containers of solidified low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) and/or dewatered ion exchange media meet requlatory requirements with respect to free water for burial. The literature search was supplemented with bench scale experimental work where it was deemed advantageous toward reaching a recommended approach. A qualitative evaluation of the various nondestructive techniques was conducted to ascertain the relative merits of the different inspection approaches. The evaluation criteria were established, in part, based on conversations with vendor and nuclear plant staff concerning their current procedures for waste disposal. Preliminary recommendations were made concerning nondestructive methods deserving further evaluation and development. 37 refs., 20 figs., 1 tab.

Research Organization:
Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA); Failure Analysis Associates, Inc., Redmond, WA (USA)
Sponsoring Organization:
EPRI; Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA)
OSTI ID:
5529439
Report Number(s):
EPRI-NP-6502; TRN: 91-019018
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English