DEACTIVATION AND DECOMMISSIONING (D AND D) TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION

Abstract

As part of the ongoing task of making Deactivation and Decommissioning (D&D) operations more efficient, this subtask has addressed the need to integrate existing characterization technologies with decontamination technologies in order to provide real-time data on the progress of contamination removal. Specifically, technologies associated with concrete decontamination and/or removal have been examined with the goal of integrating existing technologies and commercializing the resulting hybrid. The Department of Energy (DOE) has estimated that 23 million cubic meters of concrete will require disposition as 1200 buildings undergo the D&D process. All concrete removal to be performed will also necessitate extensive use of characterization techniques. The in-process characterization presents the most potential for improvement and cost-savings as compared to other types. Current methods for in-process characterization usually require cessation of work to allow for radiation surveys to assess the rate of decontamination. Combining together decontamination and characterization technologies would allow for in-process evaluation of decontamination efforts. Since the present methods do not use in-process evaluations for the progress of decontamination, they may allow for ''overremoval'' of materials (removal of contaminated along with non-contaminated materials). Overremoval increases the volume of waste and therefore the costs associated with disposal. Integrating technologies would facilitate the removalmore » of only contaminated concrete and reduce the total volume of radioactive waste, which would be disposed of. This would eventually ensure better productivity and time savings. This project presents a general procedure to integrate the above-mentioned technologies in the form of the Technology Integration Module (TIM) along with combination lists of commercially available decontamination and characterization technologies. The scope of the project has also been expanded by FIU-HCET to evaluate a technology integration--shot blasting technology and an ultrasonic rangefinder, which are decontamination and sensor technology, respectively.« less