DEMONSTRATION SOLIDIFICATION TESTS CONDUCTED ON RADIOACTIVELY CONTAMINATED ORGANIC LIQUIDS AT THE AECL WHITESHELLLABORATORIES

摘要

The AECL, Whiteshell Laboratory (WL) near Pinawa Manitoba, Canada, was established in thernearly 1960’s to carry out AECL research and development activities for higher temperaturernversions of the CANDU? reactor. The initial focus of the research program was the WhiteshellrnReactor-1 (WR-1) Organic Cooled Reactor (OCR) that began operation in 1965. The OCRrnprogram was discontinued in the early 1970’s in favour of the successful heavy-water-cooledrnCANDU system. WR-1 continued to operate until 1985 in support of AECL nuclear researchrnprograms.rnA consequence of the Federal government’s recent program review process was AECL’srnbusiness decision to discontinue research programs and operations at the Whiteshell Laboratoriesrnand to consolidate its’ activities at the Chalk River Laboratories. As a result, AECL receivedrngovernment concurrence in 1998 to proceed to plan actions to achieve closure of WL. Thernplanning actions now in progress address the need to safely and effectively transition the WL siternfrom an operational state, in support of AECL’s business, to a shutdown and decommissionedrnstate that meets the regulatory requirements for a licensed nuclear site. The decommissioningrnprogram that will be required at WL is unique within AECL and Canada since it will need tornaddress the entire research site rather than individual facilities declared redundant.rnAccordingly, the site nuclear facilities are being systematically placed in a safe shutdown staternand planning for the decommissioning work to place the facilities in a secure monitoring andrnsurveillance state is in progress. One aspect of the shutdown activities is to deal with the legacyrnof radioactively contaminated organic liquid wastes. Use of a polymer powder to solidify thesernorganic wastes was identified as one possibility for improved interim storage of this materialrnpending final disposition.