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Cel: IUu£3 Notional Laboratory Consultant Conxonts end lbcoez»ndetion8 on Hadiation Waste at Thule Air Force Beno, Greenland Moj General B.O. Runzlker SAC Disaster Control Teas Chief 1. The writers, both froa the Oak Ridge Rational Laboratory, arrived at Thulo on Feb 14, 1968, 1430 hro, for discussions with R.E. Brookbank. Mr. Brookbank is serving as 0SA2C consultant to Crested Ice on problems of packaging, shipping and disposal at Oak Ridge of debris. 2. Facts to bo considorod in packaging. We found this situotion to be unique in that at the very low temperatures which prevail, plutonium contamination problems are minimized. It is, however, pertinent to packaging and shipping to realize that, on warming, the snow end ice accompanying the debris will melt. When this occurs, puddles of highly contaminated liquid will bo forced. 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 ere 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 ortensive 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. Ve have seen many surplus tanks on the base which meet these specifications, although it would be 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 chipping containers. It has already been pointed out that on melting of the snow in shipping containers, pools of con taminated water will result. _____ US DOE ARCHIVES BEST AVAILABLE COPT
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Bocsuso tho likelihood of looking and tho r.ocnitudo of contoninotion cprecc incrooso with tho volurro of votor in tho contoinors, vo rocomand of in tho containers. We hnvo considered how much transforablo contamination would bo pornissoble on the outside of the shipping con tainers end belie vo that a fairly high level-say 500 dpm per 100 cn^ - would bo acceptable since all shipments will bo undor federal cognizance. It scorns likoly that this levol can be schiovod easily and that higher levels might result in contamination of Danish territory end accrue sizable costs for docontaminationof tho transport vehicles. 4. Packaging for shipment. All of the containers which aro 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 made, if tho vessels don't leak, and if the surface contamination is low, then they con be shipped without further packaging. However, recognizing that a leekor cay be encountered, it would bo dosirable to provide add itional safeguards if this can bo reasonably done. For example, tha add ed protection offered by onclosing a drum in s plostio bag is great, yot the cost end effort involved is slight. Added protection msy bo afforded bigger vessels by wrapping in plastic or by placing abrobent paper under them to limit contamination from looks. 5. Transportation. If the debris is to bo removed from the Thule area, it can be transported by eea during the late summer season or by air on on available flight basis. The transportation by air during the winter season has the following advantages. A direct flight to the Air Notional Guard base KcGhoe Tyson Field at Knoxville, Tennessee, would provide the closest access to the Oak Pddgo waste storoge 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 bo achieved. We would recommend flying with no heat in the cargo area, thus preserving tho frozen atatus. We would recommend limiting the altitude to minimize the possibility of contoinor rupture if the cargo eroa should become de-pressurized. Transportation by sea during tho summer season would have the added hazard of melted snow and ice providing a contaminated liquid sloshing abojit within the containers during sea travel. We would visualize sea transport to New Orleans, transfer of containers from the ship to a barge and travel by river on the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee and Clinch rivers to the barge dock at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. From this dock the containers would bo moved only a few miles by truck to the waste storage site over roods ell within the ASC controlledBEST AVAILABLE COPY doe archives 6. Receipt of debris shipments to Oak Ridge. Tho policy in shipping radioactive materials is that the shipper is responsible for tho shipment until it is accepted by the recipient at the destination. Ue would assume that the Air Force would provide a suitably trained courier for either air or water transportation. Ve would assume that the debris containers would have a removable surface contamination not exceeding the levol previously stated. The smaller contains re (drums) would he anaaed individually in heavy plastic sealed bags.
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Tha larger chipping containers would have blotting paper or equivalent absorbent cateriol under the containers to absorb any liquid that night drip from the containers. For an air shipcont to Knoxville, Tho Oak Ridge National Laboratory would provide monitoring services at tho air port, would remove any blotting paper in addition to the containers, would rurvoy tho interior of tha cargo area and perform any surface de contamination measures necessary to reduce any contoninotion levol to a point whore the plane 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 tho McGhae-Tyson airbase to restore normal conditions to physical facilities. The same general approach would be applicable to the handling of the unloaidng of a barge and the chocking for any contamination. For en air shipment we would appreciate a vooks general notice of the intention to ship, twenty-four hours notice of an STA if possible. Notification to OFJJL should be to the laboratory,- Shift-supervisor, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This position is similior to an officer of tha 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 GRNL. If tho debris ia to be shipped to Oak Ridge, we plan to store the 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 the total disposal will be identified on our permanent records in case there should bo a need to have eccoss to the containers. 8. Disposal of Contaminated Ice. Tho Osk 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 othsr sites such as Savannah River and Hajrford should be evaluated because of their existing processing capabilities, but chloride Iciricontamination of this material msy preclude their use. QRNL would also bo willing to help in resolving chemical engineering problems. 9. Some Problems in Ice Handling. Clearly tho big problem is the log istics of handling the 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 nay be well to also segregato snow and ice by activity level, since slightly contaminated water may be handled by a simpler process than that which is highly contaninatod. Criticality proolom^C' 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. BEST AVAILABLE COPY
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If a decision is mudo to ship molted ico and onou to another Bite for processing or disposal,littio acditlonol chomicol information in no cos nary at this time. Ilovovor, if on-site processing io planned, more knowledge than wo now hove is needed. Tho chemical epocio of tho plu tonium should be established; whothor soluble, or dispersed Fu02, or polymer. Since sedimentation characteristics ond come proceesing techniques will depend upon tho particlenizo of tho PuQ2 dispersed in solution (if this be the case> tkie should bo determined). . Since filt^retion through beds of sorbent material or i^on exchange^ are inexpensive possibilitios for removing tho plutonium from solution, its filterebility end ion exchange properties should bo determined. The distribution coefficient of the plutonium between the Jet fuel phase end water should be measured. While tho preceding dfcls with the properties of tha plutonium itsolf, also of importance is a knowledge of the liquid in vhioh it is contained: the chloride concentration which relates to corrosion, whether the fuel oil promotes emulsification and foaming; and whether tho oil-water mixture plugs filter bods. 10. Processing Goals. We have considered superficially the degree of plutonium removal which should be sought in processing. If it is performed offsite, clearly economics will bo controlling. If performed here, such factors as politiool implications of returning some plu tonium to the cca in the wastes and the cost of shipping the concentrate containing plutonium tiU^t be borne in mind. It is our opinion that it would be reasonable to expect more than 95S> removal of plutonium from the melted ice end that this plutonium should be contained in a volume at least 100 fold less than the original volume of melted ice and snow. However, both of these voluias particularly the latter will depend on the sodium chloride concentration of the melted snow and ice.