CHARACTERIZATION OF CURRENTLY GENERATED TRANUSRANIC WASTE AT THE LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY'S PLUTONIUM PRODUCTION FACILITY Page: 2 of 7
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WM'03 Conference, February 23-27, 2003, Tucson, AZ
Radioactive waste from LANL's Plutonium Processing Facility, TA-55 PF-4, is
characterized by process knowledge, weighed, and visually inspected before it leaves the
glovebox line. Knowledge of the material inputs and the waste producing process is used
to physically and chemically characterize the waste. TRU waste at the Laboratory can be
classified as either legacy waste or newly generated waste. Although newly generated
waste is defined as waste generated after September 30, 1998, this paper focuses on waste
generated since September 3, 2002 and which is referred to as currently generated waste.
The waste handling process was mapped from generation in the glovebox to placement in
the shipping container and compared with the process used to characterize and certify
legacy TRU waste containers.
Waste Certification Process
Currently generated TRU waste is certified through a nine step process that includes:
1. Item Identification,
2. Item Inspection
3. Management of Information Using the Material Evaluation Form,
4. Removing the Items from the Glovebox Line by Drunout or Bagout,
5. Assay of the individual Item,
6. Packaging the Item in a waste Container,
7. Assay of the Waste Container,
8. WIPP certified assay, and
9. Headspace Gas Analysis.
A contaminated item can not be determined to be waste until it is assayed in Step 5 to
determine the amount of SNM contained in the item. Those items that contain enough
SNM are held for reprocessing. The nine steps and the information collected during each
step are depicted in Figure 1.2
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Dodge, Robert L. & Montoya, Andy M. CHARACTERIZATION OF CURRENTLY GENERATED TRANUSRANIC WASTE AT THE LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY'S PLUTONIUM PRODUCTION FACILITY, article, February 27, 2003; Tucson, Arizona. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc782194/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.