Radiological Characterization of Building 611B Depleted Uranium Firing Range Characterization

Abstract

Abstract : Building 611B testing facility at the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), Picatinny, New Jersey was used for firing operations and ballistics testing of small scale depleted uranium (DU/U-238) and/or staballoy kinetic energy penetrators and storage from July 1979 to October 1984. Uranium-238 and its short-lived daughters are the only radionuclides of concern. Subsequent to the approval of the Guitierrez-Palmenberg, Inc. (GPI's) drafts of a Project work plan, health and safety plan, and quality assurance plan to ensure compliance with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license conditions, all pertinent regulations and permits, the characterization survey ended after 24 days with the demobilization of GPI on 13 May 1997. This radiological characterization report provides the information needed to decommission and remediate the Building 611B testing facility, which has not been used for DU munitions testing since the end of 1984, so as to remove it from ARDEC's SUB-348 license and free release it from radiological control.