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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

DISPOSAL OF REACTOR DEIONIZER VESSELS HIGHLY CONTAMINATED WITH 14 CARBON IN THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL VAULT FACILITY AT SRS

Conference ·
OSTI ID:908025
At the Savannah River Site (SRS), nuclear production reactors used deionizers to control the chemistry of the reactor moderator during their operation to produce nuclear materials primarily for the weapons program. These deionizers were removed from the reactors and stored as a legacy waste with no path to disposal due to the relatively high {sup 14}C contamination (i.e., on the order of 20 curies per deionizer for 48-50 deionizers) and the low disposal limit of 4.2 Ci previously established for the Intermediate Level Vault (ILV). The ILV is considered most appropriate facility within which to dispose these items due to the method of solidifying waste items with cementitious material inside concrete vaults. In previous analyses the {sup 14}C ILV disposal limit was established at 4.2 Ci resulting from the use of a very conservative method to analyze the dose received from atmospheric releases of gaseous {sup 14}C. This investigation implemented a more rigorous evaluation of the physical and chemical processes influencing the release and migration of gaseous {sup 14}C (as CO{sub 2}) to obtain a more realistic estimate of atmospheric dose and to determine new ILV disposal limits.
Research Organization:
SRS
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC09-96SR18500
OSTI ID:
908025
Report Number(s):
WSRC-STI-2007-00271
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English