Effluent monitoring systems for the ICPP Fluorinel and Storage Facility (FAST)

摘要

The Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) is a Department of Energy (DOE) owned complex located at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) in Southeastern Idaho. The mission of the ICPP is to receive, store, and process a variety of government-owned spent nuclear fuel that contains highly enriched uranium. The principal fuel type is received from the reactors in the Naval surface ships and submarines. In 1984, the Fluorinel and Storage Facility (FAST) was placed into service at the ICPP to receive and store the spent Naval fuels and to dissolve the fuel elements into a liquid solution. This solution can then be processed through the existing ICPP solvent extraction system to recover the unused uranium. The facility is shown in Figure 1. The facility uses a single pass ventilation system, which means that the ventilation air is drawn into the facility, conditioned, routed to the various rooms and cells, and then passed through high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters before being released from a nearby stack. Three different systems monitor the exhaust air to ensure compliance with effluent limits. These three systems are: a particulate radionuclide monitor, a gaseous radionuclide monitor and an oxides of nitrogen (NO (sub x)) monitor. These monitoring systems are described.