SRS HLW Tank Farm Closure Radionuclide Screening Process
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CBU-PIT-2005-00228 Revision 0 November 7, 2006 KEYWORDS Waste Characterization Fate and Transport Modeling RETENTION: PERMANENT CLASSIFICATION: NA Does not contain UCNI Savannah River Site High-Level Waste Tank Farm Closure Radionuclide Screening Process (First-Level) Development and Application B. A. Hamm Westinghouse Savannah River Company Closure Business Unit Planning Integration & Technology Department Aiken, SC 29808 ________________________________________________________________________ Prepared for U.S. Department of Energy Under Contract No. DE-AC09-96S Summary of Changes Date Rev Description/Affected Sections Reason 11/07/06 0 Initial creation of document NA TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY................................................................................6 PART 1. FIRST-LEVEL RADIONUCLIDE SCREENING PROCESS DEVELOPMENT AND DESCRIPTION ...............................................................7 PART 2. BACKGROUND AND REFERENCE INFORMATION NEEDED FOR SCREENING PROCESS APPLICATION...................................................12 Background........................................................................................................ 12 Radioisotope Properties, Creation Mechanisms, and Decay Modes ................. 12 Radioactive Decay Characterized by Isotope Half-life ..................................... 14 Significant Daughters of Radioisotopes............................................................. 14 NCRP Screening Model..................................................................................... 15 PART 3. RADONUCLIDE SCREENING PROCESS (FIRST-LEVEL) APPLICATION .....................................................................................................16 Step 1. Member of Thorium, Uranium, Actinium, or Neptunium Decay Series (Inclusion)........................................................................... 16 Step 2. Radionuclide Characterized in Residual Sludge Material Estimate (Inclusion).................................................................................. 18 Step 3. Radionuclides without Dose Conversion Factors (Exclusion) ......... 18 Step 4. Radionuclides Screened by NCRP as Not Significant for Ground Disposal (Exclusion).................................................................... 19 Step 5. Radionuclides That Do Not Exceed 4 Millirem at 1 Million Curies of Activity (Exclusion).................................................................. 20 Step 6. Radionuclides That Do Not Exceed 4 Millirem/year at 1,000 Pounds of Mass (Exclusion) ..................................................................... 21 Step 7. Radionuclides Which Are Not in Waste Due to Physical Properties (Exclusion)............................................................................... 23 Step 8. Short-lived Radionuclides Which Decay Directly to Stable Products (Exclusion)................................................................................. 23 Step 9. Short-lived Radionuclides Which Decay to a Short-lived Daughter and Then to a Stable Product (Exclusion)................................. 25 Step 10. Short-lived Radionuclides Which Decay to Stable Isotope in Multiple Steps (Exclusion) ....................................................................... 26 Step 11. Radionuclides Which Decay to Longer Lived Radionuclides (Exclusion)................................................................................................ 27 Step 12 . Radionuclides Which Will Decay to Stable Isotope during Period of Institutional Control (Exclusion)............................................... 27 Savannah River Site CBU-PIT-2005-00228 High-Level Waste Tank Farm Closure Process Rev. 0 Radionuclide Screening Process (First-Level) November 7, 2006 Development and Application Page 3 of 32 Step 13. Radionuclides Which Decay to Longer-Lived Isotope during Institutional Control Period....................................................................... 28 Step 14. Isotopes Requiring Analysis Before They Can Be Screened ......... 28 RESULTS AND CONCLUSION......................................................................................30 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................32 Appendix A Savannah River Site CBU-PIT-2005-00228 High-Level Waste Tank Farm Closure Process Rev. 0 Radionuclide Screening Process (First-Level) November 7, 2006 Development and Application Page 4 of 32 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Radionuclides Included As Members of Decay Series (54 Isotopes).................17 Table 2. Radionuclides Included Because They Are Characterized in High-Level Waste (64 Isotopes)..........................................................................................18 Table 3. Radionuclides without Dose Conversion Factors (23 isotopes) .........................18 Table 4. Radioisotopes Screened by NCRP in Table 3.2 (388 Isotopes) .........................19 Table 5. Radionuclides Which Do Not Exceed 4 Millirem/year at 1 Million Curies of Inventory (89 Isotopes) ....................................................................21 Table 6. Radionuclides Which Do Not Exceed 4 Millirem/year at 1000 lbs of Inventory (67 isotopes) ....................................................................................22 Table 7. Gas Phase Radionuclides (30 Isotopes)..............................................................23 Table 8. Radionuclides Decayed Directly to Stable Products (288 isotopes)...................24 Table 9. Radionuclides Decayed to Stable Product in Two Steps (169 Isotopes)............25 Table 10. Radionuclides Decayed to Stable Isotope in Multiple Steps (13 Isotopes)...........................................................................................................26 Table 11. Radionuclides Which Decay to Longer-Lived Radionuclides (101 Isotopes)...........................................................................................................27 Table 12. Isotopes that Decay to Stable Isotopes during Institutional Control Period (8 Isotopes) ...........................................................................................28 Table 13. Radionuclides Which Decay to Longer Lived Radionuclides during Institutional Control (2 Isotopes).....................................................................28 Table 14. Isotopes Requiring Additional Analysis (55 isotopes) .....................................29 Table 15. Radionuclides Retained for Further Evaluation (159 Isotopes)........................30 Appendix A Tables Table A1. Radionuclide Property Data Table A2. Radionuclide Creation Mechanisms Table A3. Radionuclide Decay Mechanisms Table A4. Screening Process Application (Steps 1 through 4) Table A5. Screening Process Application (Steps 5 through 7) Table A6. Screening Process Application (Steps 8 through 9) Table A7. Screening Process Application (Steps 10 through 14) Table A8. Screening Process Application (Summary) Savannah River Site CBU-PIT-2005-00228 High-Level Waste Tank Farm Closure Process Rev. 0 Radionuclide Screening Process (First-Level) November 7, 2006 Development and Application Page 5 of 32 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY Savannah River Site (SRS) high-level waste tank closure decisions require a thorough understanding of the fate and transport of residual radioactive material in the tanks. The transport analysis requires the application of detailed models to support decision making and is most effective when the list of radionuclides studied is focused on the most important isotopes. Screening methods can be effectively used to narrow a long list of potential radionuclides to those that require detailed modeling. The purpose of this report is to develop and apply a screening process that can be applied to evaluate radionuclides in SRS high-level waste sludge. The final result of the evaluation is a list of nuclides which are carried forward for further analysis. The screening process developed in this report uses information about the physical properties of each radioisotope such as half-life and decay mechanism. Information about the source and handling of the waste is used in the decisions based on creation mechanisms and time since the isotope was created. In addition, screening factors which convert a quantity of each radionuclide to a dose that were developed for ground disposal of radionuclides are used. The screening factors used in this report were developed by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). The NCRP was formed in 1964 and chartered by the U. S. Congress to provide technical analysis, education and guidance on maters involving radioactive materials. They have addressed the issue of environmental transport screening models and developed an approach that can be used to estimate the doses resulting from the disposal of the waste. Details about the NCRP methodology can be found in their report (NCRP 1996) and will not be repeated here. A comprehensive list of 849 radioactive isotopes was evaluated for either inclusion or exclusion from the list of radionuclides in SRS high-level waste requiring further analysis. Of these, 159 require further evaluation and 690 can be safely excluded from further consideration. The body of this report is divided into three parts in order to make it easier to follow. Part 1 contains a description of the screening process development, Part 2 contains background information needed to perform the screening and Part 3 contains