MULTI-PURPOSE CRATE COUNTER FOR THE RFETS

Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (Site) is on a very aggressive Decontamination & Decommissioning (D&D) path and is scheduled for closure in 2006. Nondestructive assay (NDA) capabilities at the Site required upgrading and expansion to accommodate this schedule. As part of the crate capability upgrade, BNFL Instruments Inc. was contracted to provide a combined Imaging Passive Active Neutron (IPAN) and Gamma Energy Analysis (GEA) Multi-Purpose Crate Counter (MPCC) for the Site for identifying and analyzing the presence of plutonium, uranium, americium and other elements of interest in varying mass ratio concentrations in low, medium and high density waste matrices contained in wood and metal crates of various sizes. The MPCC is required to comply with both WIPP and Nuclear Material Safeguards (NMS) performance requirements for accuracy and precision for 55-gallon drums. Fifty-five gallon drum criteria were selected as a conservative requirement as crate criteria have not been promulgated to date. The MPCC is also capable of segregating low level waste from transuranic waste at 60 nCi/g levels. To date, the MPCC has been calibrated for two crate sizes (SWB and B-25) and four matrix types (Dry Combustibles, Wet Combustibles, Plastics and Light Metals). The MPCC vastly expands the Site crate capability as it can accommodate waste boxes up to 11,000 pounds and can measure crates of any matrix type that fall within the calibrated range. Factory functionality testing of the MPCC was successfully completed during the first two weeks of October 1999. The MPCC passed all the functionality tests demonstrating initial compliance with both WIPP and NMS requirements. Final algorithm implementation is scheduled upon commissioning of the MPCC at RFETS. A detailed description and report on the performance and status of the system is presented in this paper.