QUID RE Radioacti TABLE 2.11-COMPARISON OF ESTIMATED AND OBSERVED* VOL- 4.5X10 1X1 1X10 0.27 il Engr., & CHEMIC 86 (SA ngrs., *Data for period, January through November 1958. †From J. R. LaPointe, W. J. Hahn, and E. D. Harward, Jr., Proc. Am. Soc. Civil Engrs., 86(SA 3): 142-143 (May 1960). stacks for dilution with the atmosphere. About 3330 standard cu ft of radioactive gases was discharged to the atmosphere during the first nine months of operation. Combustible solid wastes amounting to approximately 4000 lb per month are incinerated, and the residual ash is dumped into an ashslurry tank from which it is pumped to the resin storage tank. Activity levels per incinerator charge have been near the lower limits of measurability. The spent ion-exchange resins and other solids are being stored on-site presently. Some 36 cu ft of resin per month requires disposal at an activity level of 101 uc/cm3. The water required to slurry the resin has been estimated at 2800 gal per month; it contains some radioactivity. 2-5 FUEL-CANAL WATERS The fuel canal is used for the underwater storage of spent radioactive fuels, core assemblies, and subassemblies after they have been removed from the reactor. This underwater storage provides shielding, permits decay of short-lived radionuclides prior to transfer of the components to the irradiated-fuel recovery facilities, and removes the residual heat from the components. The water may become contaminated by fission-product leakage from fuel elements, by contaminants on the fuel cladding, and by dusts and other materials discharged from the reactor. At Chalk River 500,000 to 800,000 gal of canal water was pumped per week to a small pond for disposal on land.18 It is estimated that the pit had received about 2000 curies of Sr90 and 100 g of plutonium 692-623 O 64 - 4 from this particular source. Analyses show that most of the activity in canal water at BNL 19 is due to Cs137, with Pm147 and Sr90-Y90 also present. At ANL 20 a portion of the canal water is passed through ion-exchange resins to remove radioactive contaminants before it is returned to the canal. From 10 to 40 gal/min is purged from the canal at the MTR (Idaho) and discharged as waste.21 The waste contains from 250 to 2000 counts/(min) (ml) of radioactivity. 2-6 LABORATORY AND PILOT-PLANT AREAS Because of the diversity of operations, general statements cannot be made on the volumes of waste and activity levels to be expected from laboratory and pilot-plant operations. Furthermore, gross-activity levels are quite meaningless because they provide no information on the specific nuclides present. Detailed information on the composition of waste discharges is limited, with only the more hazardous nuclides identified. Although far from accurate and complete, Table 2.12 provides an estimate of volumes of low-level liquid wastes discharged 22 by various atomic installations. As can be seen, the waste volumes vary from approximately 20 to 7700 million gal per year, with total activity released ranging from 800 to over 2 million curies. Depending upon the operations, contaminated air released to the atmosphere will contain different nuclides. For example, radioargon will be the most prevalent nuclide in air used for reactor cooling. Fission products, particularly the noble gases, radioxenon and krypton, will be present from ruptured and contaminated cladding materials; and radioiodine, barium, and ruthenium will be present in chemicalprocessing operations. Where other types of air contaminants are encountered, operations are generally carried out under negative pressure to minimize the possibility of contaminating the work area and to reduce the volume of air to be treated. Items for disposal as solid wastes include the following: paper (wipes, laboratory bench covers, air filters, container liners); cloth (clothing, rags, cleaning mops); rubber and plastic (gloves, protective clothing, tubing, bottles, tile); glass (vials, bottles, syringes, tubing); wood (flooring, buildings, laboratory furniture); metal (tubing, piping, tanks, equipment, irradiated fuel elements, thermocouples, furnaces, autoclaves); chemicals (left-over isotopes, graphite, evaporator slurries, ion-exchange resins, precipitates); excreta (urine, feces, vomitus); laboratory animals; etc. Solid wastes are generally segregated into combustible and noncombustible fractions. In the case of the former, volume reduction may be practiced. The noncombustibles are packaged, if possible, before burial either on land or in the sea. krypte materia hemical ants ar negativ ork are g: paper $); cloth rotectiv tubing piping furnaces tor slur Fomitus BNL, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, Long Island, N.Y. To sea burial in packages. WAPD, Westinghouse Electric Company, Atomic Power Division, Pittsburgh, Pa. tActivity discharged without further control. §Includes condenser cooling water not normally radioactive. Includes infiltrated storm water. Some information on waste characteristics from three specific sites is given in the subsections that follow. 2-6.1 Argonne National Laboratory Volumes and activity levels for wastes produced at ANL d fiscal year 1956 are listed in Table 2.13. Radioactive wastes coll in various pots and containers and above-tolerance wastes he retention tanks are treated at a central processing facility. D the calendar year 1956, an average of 515 gal per day was so trea Typical analyses of laboratory drain wastes, reported by Rod are summarized in Table 2.14. TABLE 2.13-WASTE CHARACTERISTICS, ARGONNE NATIONAL *An average of 19,446 gal per day had an activity level below the maximum permissible level for discharge to the laboratory waste-treatment plant. The remaining average daily waste volume contained activity levels above the maximum permissible levels for discharge to the laboratory waste-treatment plant. Maximum permissible levels for building retention tanks and handling procedures are as follows: If the gross count (alpha plus beta) is greater than 1000 dis/(min) (ml), process the waste. If the gross count is less than 1000 dis/(min) (ml) but greater than 100 dis/(min) (ml), analyze for Sr0 and count for total alpha [if the Sr90 level is equal to or greater than 10 dis/(min) (ml) and/or if the alpha level is equal to or greater then 5 dis/(min) (ml), process; if the Sr90 level is less than 10 dis/(min) (ml) and the alpha level is less than 5 dis/(min) (ml), discharge to waste-treatment plant]. If the gross count is less than 100 dis/(min)(ml), discharge to laboratory waste-treatment plant. TABLE 2.14-TYPICAL ANALYSES OF LABORATORY-DRAIN WASTES* (ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY) *From W. A. Rodger, USAEC Report AECD-3078, Argonne National Laboratory, September 1950. The bulk of the gaseous waste comes from hoods and caves used in chemical, metallurgical, or biological operations. Exhaust velocity from these hoods may vary from one to several thousand cubic feet per minute. In newer laboratories at ANL, the hood air is conditioned and filtered and the exhaust gases are filtered before being released through stacks extending 3 ft beyond the roof. Filters are checked to prevent radiation exposure to workers in the area, and, when removed, they are disposed of as solid wastes. Approximately 97% of all solid wastes produced are considered low level and are prepared for off-site disposal to Oak Ridge. Volumes of solid wastes handled in 1957 are given in Table 2.15. 2-6.2 Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Plutonium is the most hazardous constituent of the waste at Los Alamos. Typical analyses of the wastes are summarized in Table 2.16. A 5000-fold range in gross-beta and plutonium activity is dischar d acti at. X the *Compressed volume. TABLE 2.16-SUMMARY OF CHEMICAL ANALYSES, LOS AL less th eater th Gross-ẞ activity, 1000 counts/(min) STES 11. 6 Conductivity, mg/liter 2. 1 1710 112 Methyl orange alkalinity as CaCO3, c/liter mg/liter 382432 5 11 13 Total hardness as CaCO3, mg/liter Calcium, mg/liter Magnesium, mg/liter Sodium, mg/liter noted with considerable variation in the stable chemical constit of the wastes. Because of the extreme hazard of airborne plutonium, most is carried out in hoods or dry boxes maintained at negative pre by exhausting the air. The plutonium contained in the resulta is removed before the air is discharged through stacks. Solid wastes consist of such items as laboratory glassware, con nated rags, paper, rubber gloves, small machine parts, contami buildings, etc. In 1957, 3187 cu yd of material was packaged buried on-site. 2-6.3 Oak Ridge National Laboratory Process wastes at Oak Ridge National Laboratory include e ment-cooling water, floor drainage, decontamination-pad drai |