Cesium-137 in K west basin canister water

摘要

Liquid and gas samples were taken from 50 K West Basin fuel storage canisters in 1996. The cesium-137 data from the liquid samples and an analysis of the data are presented. The analysis indicated that the cesium-137 data follow a lognormal distribution. Assuming that the total distribution of the K West canister water was predicted, the total K West Basin canister water was estimated to contain about 8,150 curies. The mean canister contains about 2.14 curies with as many as 5% or 190 of the canisters exceeding 19 curies. Opening ten canisters per shift could include a hot canister (cesium-137 > 25 curies) in one out of eight shifts.