DECONTAMINATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR FACILITY REUSE

Conference · Thu Feb 27 00:00:00 EST 2003

OSTI ID:826198

Bossart, Steven J; Blair, Danielle M

As nuclear research and production facilities across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons complex are slated for deactivation and decommissioning (D&D), there is a need to decontaminate some facilities for reuse for another mission or continued use for the same mission. Improved technologies available in the commercial sector and tested by the DOE can help solve the DOE's decontamination problems. Decontamination technologies include mechanical methods, such as shaving, scabbling, and blasting; application of chemicals; biological methods; and electrochemical techniques. Materials to be decontaminated are primarily concrete or metal. Concrete materials include walls, floors, ceilings, bio-shields, and fuel pools. Metallic materials include structural steel, valves, pipes, gloveboxes, reactors, and other equipment. Porous materials such as concrete can be contaminated throughout their structure, although contamination in concrete normally resides in the top quarter-inch below the surface. Metals are normally only contaminated on the surface. Contamination includes a variety of alpha, beta, and gamma-emitting radionuclides and can sometimes include heavy metals and organic contamination regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). This paper describes several advanced mechanical, chemical, and other methods to decontaminate structures, equipment, and materials.

• Research Organization: U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, P.O. Box 880, Morgantown, West Virginia 26507-0880; Science Applications International Corporation, P.O. Box 4194, Star City, West Virginia 26504 (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• OSTI ID: 826198
• Resource Relation: Conference: Waste Management 2003 Symposium, Tucson, AZ (US), 02/23/2003--02/27/2003; Other Information: PBD: 27 Feb 2003
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
COMMERCIAL SECTOR
CONCRETES
CONTAMINATION
DEACTIVATION
DECOMMISSIONING
DECONTAMINATION
EXPLOSIVE FRACTURING
FUEL STORAGE POOLS
GLOVEBOXES
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
POROUS MATERIALS
RADIOISOTOPES
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
VALVES
WASTE MANAGEMENT