SEGMENTATION STRATEGIES USED IN CALCULATING HAZARD CATEGORY 3 THRESHOLD VALUES AT THE RADIOACTIVE AND MIXED WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY, SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES, NEW MEXICO

摘要

This paper demonstrates how facility segmentation is used at the Radioactive and Mixed WasternManagement Facility (RMWMF) compound successfully, thus providing greater flexibility inrnoperations, storage, and processing of radioactive and mixed waste (R/MW) materials generatedrnat Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico. The RMWMF compound is divided into 6rnsegments. For every segment, the R/MW material radionuclide inventories are recorded in arndatabase. To verify that the radionuclide inventories are below their corresponding hazardrncategory 3 threshold values, the R/MW materials are managed to yield a sum of fractions perrnsegment of <1.0. In addition, the Environmental Assessment (EA) base case scenario providesrninformation regarding natural phenomena and operational accidents (i.e., scenarios) that couldrnresult in a loss of containment and co-mingling of R/MW materials between segments. The EArnbase case scenario consisted of a severe earthquake which damages Building 6920 located insidernthe RMWMF compound, causing propane gas lines to fracture, which then results in a fire. Thernannual probability of this scenario per segment was 5x10-5, and the effective dose equivalentsrn(EDEs) to the maximum on-site and off-site individuals were 1.3 rem and 3.8 x10~(-1) rem,rnrespectively. Although there were scenarios having higher annual probabilities of occurrence perrnsegment (e.g., 10~(-2), 10~(-1)), their on-site and off-site EDEs were still less than the base casernscenario results. Actual events will likely disperse the R/MW materials rather than concentraternthem, further limiting interaction between individual segments.