IN THE INDUSTRY
Amec Foster Wheeler has announced details in its survey of about 1.2 million cubic meters of historic low-level radioactive waste from multiple sites in Ontario, Canada.
The company announced Tuesday it is using an ORION ScanPlotSM overland radiation survey system in collecting radiological data. The work is a result of a Canadian Nuclear Laboratories contract worth CA$1.57 million. According to the company, ScanPlotSM combines “highly sensitive gamma radiation detectors with survey-grade GPS receivers.” An on-board computer processes the radiological data and in turn produces spatial mapping of the historic low-level radioactive waste. Amec Foster Wheeler crews are mapping about 175 roads and thoroughfares for the contract, which is part of the Canadian government’s Port Hope Area Initiative, an effort to improve management of historic low-level waste.
The Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor at its Idaho site, CH2M-WG Idaho, continues to make progress in the demolition of the site’s Experimental Breeder Reactor-II. Decontamination and decommissioning crews recently sliced a 48-foot-long, 103,000-pound steam drum tank into three portions, which were dropped in the basement of the boiler building for permanent disposal, according to the a press release from the company. The scheduled four-month demolition of the building began on Oct 1.
Experimental Breeder Reactor-II began operations in 1961 and shut down in 1994. Earlier this year, crews demolished several structures, removed the reactor’s sodium coolant, and encapsulated the reactor in concrete.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received a petition to alter its domestic licensing regulations to allow for installation of ex-vessel instrumentation for uninterruptible monitoring of coolant and fuel in spent-fuel pools and reactors.
Alexander DeVolpi, who submitted the petition on Sept. 21, claims the amendment could mitigate potential accidents at spent fuel pools and reactors, listing the Three Mile Island and Fukushima Daiichi as accidents that could have been mitigated, according to an NRC notice in the Federal Register. The NRC will determine whether the petitioner’s issues should be considered in rulemaking.
Vermont’s Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel has scheduled a meeting for 6 p.m. Dec. 10 in Brattleboro, where the panel will discuss the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proposed rulemaking on reactor decommissioning and take action on an advisory opinion concerning the certificate for public good for a second dry-cask storage pad at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
The panel is soliciting written comments on the advisory opinion, which can be emailed to [email protected]. The meeting will take place at Brattleboro Area Middle School, 109 Sunny Acres. The complete agenda and advisory opinions can be viewed at http://publicservice.vermont.gov/topics/electric/nuclear#NDCAP.
