Environmental assessment for the scintillation vial crusher TA-54, Area L, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico

Technical Report · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992

OSTI ID:7171912

Research and development projects conducted at the Los Alamos National Laboratory produce scintillation vials as waste from normal operations. These vials contain radioisotopes such as tritium, carbon-14, and isotopes of transuranic elements such as americium-241, plutonium-238 and -239. The scintillation fluids contain some solvents defined as hazardous waste. The vials are thus classed as mixed waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The Laboratory has in storage some 520 drums of stored vials and is accumulating some 70 to 140 more drums annually. The drained vial fragments can be disposed of at TA-54 as low-level radioactive waste (LLW). The bulked liquid will be stored at TA-54 as RCRA mixed waste until treatment/disposal options are developed. Other waste from the vial crushing operation will also be stored at TA-54 as mixed waste. By operating the scintillation vial crusher, the storage space needed for this RCRA mixed waste stream can be reduced to about 5% of that currently being used. The other 95% will be vial fragments that can be disposed immediately as LLW.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7171912
• Report Number(s): DOE/EA-0594; ON: DE93002211
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ALPHA-BEARING WASTES
AMERICIUM 241
AMERICIUM ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON 14
CARBON ISOTOPES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
HEAVY ION DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
HEAVY NUCLEI
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LANL
LIGHT NUCLEI
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PLUTONIUM 238
PLUTONIUM 239
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOISOTOPES
SILICON 32 DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
SPONTANEOUS FISSION RADIOISOTOPES
STORAGE
TRITIUM
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE STORAGE
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOT
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES