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Gak Rid^o National Laboratory Consultant Conmants end Hoconmondotions on Radiation Vaata at Tbule Air Force Baso, Groonland Kaj General S.O. Eunsiker SAC Disaster Control Teaa Chief . The writers, both froa the Oak Ridgo National Laboratory, arrived at Thule on Feb 14* 1968, 1430 hrs, for discussions with R.2. Brookbank. ’lr. Brookbank Is serving as USA2C consultant to Crested Ice on problems of packaging, shipping and disposal at Oak Ridge of debris. 2. Facts uo bo considered in packaging. We found this situation to be unicue in that at the very lov temperatures which prevail, plutonium contamination problems ore minimized. It is, however, pertinent to packaging and shipping to realize that, on warning, the snow and ice accompanying the debris will melt. When this occurs, puddles of highly contaminated liquid will bo formed. Further, if the debris dries, air borne contamination will certainly become a problem. It is probable that both molting of snow and ice and drying of the debris will occur before the debris is ultimately disposed of in Oak Ridge. We therefore conclude ' that a satisfactory packaging scheme for the debris-should assure that contaminated liquid and airborne plutonium are contained. If such con tainment is not provided, we believe that personnel exposure; costs of cleaning up transport vehicles and land; and the necessity providing extensive health physics surveillance would be prohibitive. For these reasons we recommend that containers^be sufficiently strong to survive shipping and handling, and that they be leak tight. Wo have seen many surplus tanks on the base which meet these specifications, although it would ho desirable to establish the leak tightness of those which may 3. Loading. The problem of loading debris has already been faced up to and the experience with both personnel exposure and contamination of the outside of the containers has been gratifying. We are concerned with the possibility of a criticality accident in loading the drums and storing them. Although this seems highly unlikely. It would be reassuring if methods could bo found to preclude critically dangerous amounts of plu tonium being assembled in shipping contsiners. It has already been pointed out that on melting of the snow in shipping containers, pools of con taminated water will result.
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Tha larger chipping contoinaro would hove blotting paper or equivalent absorbent coteriol under the containers to ebsorb any liquid that night drip fron the containers. For an air shipment to Knoxville, The Oak Ridge national Laboratory would provide monitoring services at the air port, would remove any blotting paper in addition to the containers, would survey the interior of tha cargo area and perform any surface de contamination measures necessary to reduce any contamination level to a point where the plana can bo flown safely away from Knoxville. It is not our intention to do any dismantling operations during decontamination without specific authorization and request by the Air Force. We will handle any necessary decontamination work at the McGhee-Tyson airbase to restore normal conditions to physical facilities. The same general approach would be applicable to the handling of the unlosidng of a barge and the checking for any contamination. For an air shipment we would appreciate a weeks general notice of the intention to ship, twenty-four hours notice of an STA if possible. Notification to ORIJL should be to the laboratory,- Shift-supervisor, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This position is similiar to an officer of the day with duty coverage 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Tha initial general notice should include a list of numbers and sizes of containers in the shipment. 7. Waste storage Plan at CRKL. If tho debris is to be shipped to Cak Ridge,' we plan to store tho containers in permanent underground pits. The area will bo located on our plot of the storage area. Wo intend to make a general “burial" with no attempt to identify individually any containers unless so requested specifically by the Air Force. The area for tho total disposal will be Identified on our permanent records in case there should be a need to have access to the containers. 8. Disposal of Contaminated Ice. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory would be willing to dispose of waste resulting from the removal of con taminated ice or snow. However, if plutonium recovery is desired, cap abilities of other sites such as Savannah River and Hartford should be evaluated because of their existing processing capabilities, but chloride inn contamination of this material may preclude their use. QRNL would also be willing to help in resolving chemical engineering problems. 9. Some Problems in Ice Handling. Clearly tho big problem is the log istics of handling iha very large quantities of ice and snow involved. Wo have nothing of real value to suggest in this area, but make the following observations. It is likely that the presence of fuel oil will complicate the removal of plutonium from the water, therefore, to the extent possible, ice contaminated with oil should be kept separate from clean ice. It may be well to also segregate snow and ice by activity level, since slightly contaminated water may be handled by a simpler process than that which is highly contaminated. Criticality problems must also be kept in mind. Solution criticality may be handled by soluble poisons; however, possible problems from solids which settle out on melting ice and snow should be kept in mind. The possibility of achieving a critical condition as a result of plutonium concentrating in the only phase must also be kept in mind.
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Bacauso the likelihood of looking and the magnitude of contamination spread increase with the volume of voter in tho containers, vo recommend that some small omount of attention ho given to minimizing the amounts of snov in the containers, k’e hove considered hov much transfora bio contamination would bo pornissable on the outside of the shipping con tainers and believe that a fairly high levol-soy 500 dpm per 100 cra^ - would bo acceptable since all shipments will be under federal cognizance. It seems likely that this level can be achieved oasily and that higher levels might result In contamination of Danish territory and accrue sizable costs for decontominationof tho transport vehicles. 4. Packaging for shipment. All of the containers which arc boing con sidered for shipping debris - drums, engine cases and fuel tanks - seem to be of quite high integrity. In our opinion, if a good closure is mode, if the vessels don't leak, and if the surface contamination is low, then they con be shipped without further packaging. However, recognizing that a looker nay be encountered, it would be desirable to provide add itional safeguards if this can bo reasonably done. For example, the add ed protection offered by enclosing a drum in a plastic bag is great, yot the cost and effort involved is slight. Added protection may bo afforded bigger vessels by wrapping in plastic or by placing abrobent paper under them to limit contamination from leaks. 5. Transportation. If the debris is to be removed from the Thule area, it can be tronsported by sea during the late summer season or by air on an available flight basis. The transportation by air during the winter season has the following advantages. A direct flight to the Air Notional Guard base KcGhee Tyson Field at Knoxville, Tennessee, would provide the closest access to the Oak Ridge waste storage area. A flight primarily at night within the United States would permit the maintenance of a low temperature in the containers. The debris packages would have a minimum of handling. The minimizing of transfer of surface contamination could be achieved. Ve would recommend flying with no heat in the cargo area, thus preserving tho frozen status. We would recommend limiting the altitude to minimuze tha possibility of container rupture if the cargo area should become de-pressurized. Transportation by sea during the summer season would have the added hazard of melted snow and ice providing a contaminated liquid sloshing about within the containers during sea travel. We would visualize sos transport to Kev Orleans, transfer of contsiners from the ship to a barge and travel by river on the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee and Clinch rivers to the barge cock at the Oak Ridge Caseous Diffusion Plant. From this dock the containers would bo moved only a few miles by truck to the waste storage site over roads all within the 6. Receipt of debris shipments to Oak Ridge. The policy in shipping radioactive materials is that the shipper is responsible for the shipment until it is accepted by the recipient at the destination. Ve would assume that the Air Force would provide a suitably trained courier for either air or water transportation. We mould assume that the debris containers would have a removable surface contamination sot exceeding the level previously stated. The smaller containers (drums) would be onesad Individually in heavy plastic sealed bags.
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If a docision Is r.sda to ship neltcd ico and snow to another site for processing or disposal,little additional chemical information is necessary at this tins. Kovovor, if on-site processing io planned, more knowledge than we now hove is needed. The chemical specie of the plu tonium should bo established; whsthor soluble, or dispersed Pu02, or polymer. Since sedimentation characteristics and some processing techniques will depend upon tho particlejaizo of the Pu02 dispersed in solution (if this be tho case) -thie should be determined). . Since filtration through beds of sorbent materiel or i^on exchange#- are inexpensive possibilities for removing tho plutonium from solution, its filtcrobility end ion exchange properties should bo determined. The distribution coofficiont of the plutonium between the jet fuel phase end water should be measured. While tho procoding dfels with the properties of the plutonium itsolf, also of Importance is a knowledge of the liquid in which it is conteined: the chloride concentration which relates to corrosion, whether the fuel oil promotes emulsification and foaming; end whether the oil-water mixturo plugs filtor bods. 10. Processing Goals. Wo have considered superficially the degree of plutonium removal which should bo sought in processing. If it is performed offsite, clearly economics will bo controlling. If performed here,- such factors as political implications of returning some plu tonium to tho sea in the wastes and the cost of shipping tho concentrate containing plutonium must be borne in mind. It Is our opinion that it would bo reasonable to expect more than 95/» removal of plutonium from the melted ico and that this plutonium should be contained in a volume at least 100 fold less than tho original volume of melted ice end snow. However, both of these volims particularly the latter will depend on tha sodium chloride concentration of the melted snow and ioe.