Year
2012
Abstract
For the past twelve years, the Off-Site Source Recovery Project (OSRP) operating within the Global Threat Reduction Program (GTRI), of the US National Security Administration (NNSA), has been recovering excess and unwanted radioactive sealed sources that pose a potential risk to public health and national security. Since its inception, OSRP recovered over 26,000 sources from more than 950 US and international sites. The project’s original mission included recovering transuranic (TRU) sources, packaging them in shielded containers, and providing interim storage pending approval for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The GTRI/OSRP mission has since expanded and evolved from recovering Pu-239, Pu-238 and Am-241 sources to include high activity betagamma sources containing nuclides such as Co-60, Cs-137, and Sr-90 as well as other sources with additional actinides such as Np-237, Cm-244, and Cf-252. Once sources containing additional nuclides become eligible for management by OSRP the search for disposal pathways begins. Adding new isotopes for recovery and disposal to WIPP has its own set of challenges. An extensive multistep process is necessary to qualify new isotopes to be added to existing waste stream. This includes approval for new defense determinations, white papers for transuranic determinations, waste stream profile modifications, AK report updates and changes to the approved characterization methodology. OSRP follows a WIPP compliant characterization process for disposal of transuranic sealed sources using acceptable knowledge (AK), of radiological information in lieu of nondestructive assay testing. New characterization methodologies are being considered for Cm-244 and Cf-252. These isotopes have atomic number greater than 92, are alpha emitters, but have half-lives of less than 20 years. By themselves they do not qualify for WIPP disposal. This presentation describes the efforts underway to satisfy the requirements for WIPP disposal and the status of those efforts.