PAN, TGS, AND FRAM MEASUREMENTS FOR THE FIRST SHIPMENTS TO WIPP

Year
1999
Author(s)
Thomas H. Prettyman - Los Alamos National Laboratory
T. E. Sampson - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Michael Baker - Los Alamos National Laboratory
David J. Mercer - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Robert J. Estep - Los Alamos National Laboratory
D. T. Vo - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Carlos D. Rael - Los Alamos National Laboratory
David K. Miko - Los Alamos National Laboratory
S.E. Betts - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Gary R. Allen - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Abstract
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico, began receiving nuclear waste shipments in march 1999. The first shipments included 55-gal. drums of material contaminated with heat source plutonium (primarily 238 PU) that was generated at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Three Los Alamos technologies have been used to assay the drums in preparation for shipment: a Passive-Active Neutron assay system (PAN), a Tomographic Gamma Scanner (TGS), and the isotopic analysis software package FRAM. Key issues related to the successful assay campaign will be discussed.