Recovery of {sup 241}Am/Be neutron sources, Wooster, Ohio

Abstract

In August 1997, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) submitted to the US Department of Energy (DOE) a partial list of licensed radioactive sealed sources to be recovered under a pilot project initiating Radioactive Source Recovery Program (RSRP) operations. The first of the pilot project recoveries was scheduled for September 1997 at Eastern Well Surveys in Wooster, Ohio, a company with five unwanted sealed sources on the NRC list. The sources were neutron emitters, each containing {sup 241}Am/Be with activities ranging from 2.49 to 3.0 Ci. A prior radiological survey had established that one of these sources, a Gulf Nuclear Model 71-1 containing 3 Ci of {sup 241}Am, was contaminated with {sup 241}Am and might be leaking. The other four sources were obsolete and could no longer be used by Eastern Well Surveys for their intended application in well-logging applications due to NRC decertification of these sources. All of the sources exceeded the limits established for Class C waste under 10 CFR 61.55 and, as a result, are the ultimate responsibility of the DOE under the provisions of PL 99-240. This report describes the cooperative effort between the DOE and NRC to recover the sources and transport them to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for deactivation under the RSRP. This operation alleviated any potential risk to the public health and safety from the site which might result from the leaking neutron sources or the potential mismanagement of unwanted sources. The on-site recovery occurred on September 23, 1997, and was performed by personnel from LANL and its contractor and was observed by staff from the Region III office of the NRC. All aspects of the recovery were successfully accomplished, and the sources were received at LANL on September 29, 1997. Experience gained during this operation will be used to formulate operational poilicies and procedures which will contribute to the eventual routine recovery operations of a full-scale RSRP.