Rapid monitoring for transuranic contaminants during buried waste retrieval

Technical Report · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5670258

McIsaac, C V; Sill, C W; Gehrke, R J; Shaw, P G; Randolph, P D; Amaro, C R; Pawelko, R J; Thompson, D N; Loomis, G G

This document reports results of research performed in support of possible future transuranic waste retrieval operations at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Radioactive Waste Management Complex. The focus of this research was to evaluate various methods of performing rapid and, as much as possible, on-line'' quantitative measurements of {sup 239}Pu or {sup 241}Am, either as airborne or loose contamination. Four different alpha continuous air monitors were evaluated for lower levels of detection of airborne {sup 239}Pu. All of the continuous air monitors were evaluated by sampling ambient air. In addition, three of the continuous air monitors were evaluated by sampling air synthetically laden with clean dust and dust spiked with {sup 239}Pu. Six methods for making quantitative measurements of loose contamination were investigated. They were: (1) microwave digestion followed by counting in a photon electron rejecting alpha liquid scintillation spectrometer, (2) rapid radiochemical separation followed by alpha spectrometry, (3) measurement of the {sup 241}Am 59 keV gamma ray using a thin window germanium detector, (4) measurement of uranium L-shell x-rays, (5) gross alpha counting using a large-area Ag activated ZnS scintillator, and (6) direct counting of alpha particles using a large-area ionization chamber. 40 refs., 42 figs., 24 tabs.

• Research Organization: EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-76ID01570
• OSTI ID: 5670258
• Report Number(s): EGG-WTD-9412; ON: DE91014160
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
400700 -- Radiochemistry & Nuclear Chemistry
440101 -- Radiation Instrumentation-- General Detectors or Monitors & Radiometric Instruments
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
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ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
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AMERICIUM 241
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CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CONTAMINATION
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FLUIDS
GASES
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IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
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LIQUID SCINTILLATION DETECTORS
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
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NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
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QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
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RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS
RADIOISOTOPES
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES