U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Act notice of construction for spent nuclear fuel project - hot conditioning system annex, project W-484
This notice of construction (NOC) provides information regarding the source and the estimated quantity of potential airborne radionuclide emissions resulting from the operation of the Hot Conditioning System (HCS) Annex. The construction of the HCS Annex is scheduled to conunence on or about December 1996, and will be completed when the process equipment begins operations. This document serves as a NOC pursuant to the requirements of 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 61 for the HCS Annex. About 80 percent of the U.S. Department of Energy`s spent nuclear fuel (SNF) inventory is stored under water in the Hanford Site K Basins. Spent nuclear fuel in the K West Basin is contained in closed canisters, while the SNF in the K East Basin is contained in open canisters, which allows release of corrosion products to the K East Basin water. Storage of the current inventory in the K Basins was originally intended to be on an as-needed basis to sustain operation of the N Reactor while the Plutonium-Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Plant was refurbished and restarted. The decision in December 1992 to deactivate the PUREX Plant left approximately 2, 1 00 MT (2,300 tons) of uranium, as part of 1133 N Reactor SNF in the K Basins with no means for near-term removal and processing. The HCS Annex will be constructed as an annex to the Canister Storage Building (CSB) and will contain the hot conditioning equipment. The hot conditioning system (HCS) will release chemically-bound water and will condition (process of using a controlled amount of oxygen to destroy uranium hydride) the exposed uranium surfaces associated with the SNF through oxidation. The HCS Annex will house seven hot conditioning process stations, six operational and one auxiliary, which could be used as a welding area for final closure of the vessel containing the SNF. The auxiliary pit is being evaluated at this time for its usefulness to support other operations that may be needed to ensure proper conditioning of the SNF and proper storage of the vessel containing the SNF. Figures I and 2 contain map locations of the Hanford Site and the HCS Annex.
- Research Organization:
- Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-96RL13200
- OSTI ID:
- 330731
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/RL-96-76; ON: DE98059481; BR: EW3135040; TRN: 96001132
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 10 Dec 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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