Los Alamos National Laboratory standard nuclear material container

Conference · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2009

OSTI ID:989806

Stone, Timothy A ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory

The shut down of United States (U.S.) nuclear-weapons production activities in the early 1990s left large quantities of nuclear materials throughout the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex in forms not intended for long-term storage. In May 1994, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) issued Recommendation 94-1, which called for the stabilization and disposition of 'thousands of containers of plutonium-bearing liquids and solids' in the DOE complex, including LANL in the nuclear-weapons-manufacturing pipeline when manufacturing ended. This resulted in the development of the 3013 standard with container requirements for long term storage (up to 50 years). A follow on was the Criteria For Interim Storage of Plutonium Bearing Materials, Charles B. Curtis, in 1996 to address storage other than the 3013 standard for shorter time frames. In January 2000, the DNFSB issued Recommendation 2000-1, which stated the need for LANL to repackage 'about one ton of plutonium metal and oxide,' declared excess to Defense Program (DP) needs. The DNFSB recommended that LANL 'stabilize and seal within welded containers with an inert atmosphere the plutonium oxides ... which are not yet in states conforming to the long-term storage envisaged by DOE-STD-3013,' and that they '... enclose existing and newly-generated legacy plutonium metal in sealed containers with an inert atmosphere,' and 'remediate and/or safely store the various residues.' Recommendation 2000-1, while adding to the number of items needing remediation, also reiterated the need to address remaining items from 1994-1 in a timely fashion. Since timetables slipped, the DNFSB recommended that the Complex 'prioritize and schedule tasks according to the consideration of risks.' In March 2005, the DNFSB issued Recommendation 2005-1. This recommendation addresses the need for a consistent set of criteria across the DOE complex for the interim storage of nuclear material packaged outside an engineered barrier. The Department of Energy (DOE) approved and issued on March 7, 2008, DOE M 441.1-1, Nuclear Material Packaging Manual [hereafter referred to as Manual] to address this recommendation, and a Prioritization Methodology as a complex-wide requirement for the packaging of nuclear material outside an engineered barrier. The Manual establishes 'technically justified criteria' for packages in order to ensure safe interim storage and handling outside an engineered barrier. The Prioritization Methodology establishes a risk-based procedure for identifying the order to repackage that would most efficiently reduce the overall risk. It is a logical extension of the work performed to meet the two earlier DNFSB recommendations to include all materials stored outside of engineered barriers, i.e., not just excess materials. LANL will continue to work all aspects of a comprehensive Implementation Plan to d monstrate all aspects of compliance with the Manual. Assessment of materials in nonstandard containers utilizing a risk based approach, repackaging up to 400 containers/year; activities include reprocessing of items to allow container consolidation and subsequent increase in vault capacity. Continued efforts in establishing and implementing a Surveillance and Maintenance Program for current Hagans and for the NG SNMCSs supported by a database for packaging and surveillance. Elastomer aging studies for the NG SNMCs will continue to justify extending the design life well beyond the currently specified five years. First production with containers available for use anticipated in June 2010. LANL will continue to define schedule and resources to meet these objectives.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 989806
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-09-03585; LA-UR-09-3585; TRN: US1007153
• Resource Relation: Conference: INMM ; July 13, 2009 ; Tucson, AZ
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
AGING
BEARINGS
COMPLIANCE
CONTAINERS
ELASTOMERS
IMPLEMENTATION
INERT ATMOSPHERE
MAINTENANCE
MANUFACTURING
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
PACKAGING
PIPELINES
PLUTONIUM
PLUTONIUM OXIDES
PRODUCTION
REPROCESSING
RESIDUES
STABILIZATION
STORAGE
WASTE STORAGE