Draft Environmental Assessment of 105-KE and 105-KW Basins fuel encapsulation and repackaging, 100-K Area, Hanford Site, Richland, Washington

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:6019426

This Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) describes and evaluates the environmental impacts of the proposed action and alternatives to the proposed action. The proposed action which includes encapsulation of irradiated N Reactor fuel stored in the 105-KE Basin, the repackaging as required of some of the irradiated fuel stored in the 105-KW Basin, and disposal of all the empty canisters resulting from the encapsulation and repackaging work, is designed to provide containment of fuel assemblies whose cladding has been damaged exposing the metallic uranium to basin cooling water. This will be accomplished by ensuring that all fuel assemblies are encapsulated in stainless steel canisters. This proposed action will eliminate both the continuing degradation of fuel with its resultant radionuclide release to the basin cooling water and a suspected aluminum canister corrosion problem, and will allow for a full range of options for final fuel disposition by using canisters with a lid design that prevents GRAFOIL{reg sign} seal fragments from falling into a process stream. The fuel storage basins are in the 100-K Area, which is part of the Department of Energy's (DOE), Hanford Site. The proposed action will consist of two phases: The preparation phase will include the activities required to support the encapsulation and repackaging work. The encapsulation, repackaging, and disposal phase will include the activities required to encapsulate the fuel currently stored in the 105-KE Basin, to repackage the fuel currently stored in Mark (MK) I canisters in the 105-KW Basin, and the preparation for and disposal of all empty canisters. 31 refs., 8 figs., 3 tabs.

• Research Organization: USDOE Richland Operations Office, WA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6019426
• Report Number(s): DOE/RL-91-05; ON: DE91011064
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050900 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Transport
Handling
& Storage
053000* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Environmental Aspects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
220700 -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Plutonium & Isotope Production Reactors
ALLOYS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CLEANING
CONTAINERS
CONTAMINATION
CORROSION
DAMAGE
DECONTAMINATION
DESIGN
ENCAPSULATION
ENERGY SOURCES
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EQUIPMENT
FABRICATION
FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE
FUEL CANS
FUEL INTEGRITY
FUEL POOLS
FUELS
GRAPHITE MODERATED REACTORS
HANFORD RESERVATION
HIGH ALLOY STEELS
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
IRRADIATION
LWGR TYPE REACTORS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT
N-REACTOR
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FUELS
PACKAGING
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
PLANNING
PLUTONIUM PRODUCTION REACTORS
POWER REACTORS
PROCUREMENT
PRODUCTION REACTORS
PUREX PROCESS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
REMOTE HANDLING EQUIPMENT
REPROCESSING
SAFETY
SEALS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SPENT FUEL STORAGE
SPENT FUELS
STAINLESS STEELS
STEELS
STORAGE
TRAINING
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WATER COOLED REACTORS