PNNL

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in collaboration with the Andronikashvili Institute of Physics in Tbilisi, Georgia have developed and tested technologies which sample contaminated areas inside hot cell facilities. Sampling locations in the facility include drains, ventilation exhaust ducts, sumps and shielded waste tanks. Tool designs for sampling each location include the ability to introduce the tool using existing ports, pass-throughs or inter-cells trolley and operate the tool with the existing remote manipulators. Areas inside the hot cell facility that would likely be contaminated from chemically processing irradiated reactor targets and fuel even after decontamination have been identified as potential sampling locations. Andronikashvili Institute of Physics in Tbilisi, Georgia has access to a reactor, hot cells, glove boxes and storage facilities that have been used to develop and test hot cell sampling technologies. These facilities are uncontaminated with radiological material and provide the ability to test these sampling technologies on representative equipment without contaminating the tools. Prototype tools have been fabricate and tested at these facilities using simulants representative of radiological contamination and waste.