Vibratory finishing as a decontamination process
The major objective of this research is to develop vibratory finishing into a large-scale decontamination technique that can economicaly remove transuranic and other surface contamination from large volumes of waste produced by the operation and decommissioning of retired nuclear facilities. The successful development and widespread application of this decontamination technique would substantially reduce the volume of waste requiring expensive geologic disposal. Other benefits include exposure reduction for decontamination personnel and reduced risk of environmental contamination. Laboratory-scale studies showed that vibratory finishing can rapidly reduce the contamination level of transuranic-contaminated stainless steel and Plexiglas to well below the 10-nCi/g limit. The capability of vibratory finishing as a decontamination process was demonstrated on a large scale. The first decontamination demonstration was conducted at the Hanford N-Reactor, where a vibratory finisher was installed to reduce personnel exposure during the summer outage. Items decontaminated included fuel spacers, process-tube end caps, process-tube inserts, pump parts, ball-channel inspection tools and miscellaneous hand tools. A second demonstration is currently being conducted in the decontamination facility at the Hanford 231-Z Building. During this demonstration, transuranic-contaminated material from decommissioned plutonium facilities is being decontaminated to <10 nCi/g to minimize the volume of material that will require geologic disposal. Items that are being decontaminated include entire glove boxes, process-hood structural material and panels, process tanks, process-tank shields, pumps, valves and hand tools used during the decommissioning work.
- Research Organization:
- Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 6702677
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-3336; TRN: 81-002885
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
SURFACES
DECONTAMINATION
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
SURFACE CLEANING
CLEANING
MANAGEMENT
PROCESSING
SURFACE FINISHING
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
052001* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Processing
054000 - Nuclear Fuels- Health & Safety