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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

The Off-Site Source Recovery Program Capabilities in Recovering Transuranic Sealed Sources - 17599

Over the past 16 years, the mission of the Off-Site Source Recovery Program (OSRP) has been recovering disused radioactive sealed sources in the interest of national security, public health and safety. This program, which is sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration's Office of Global Material Security's Office of Radiological Security, is managed at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory and has recovered sources worldwide. To date, OSRP has recovered more than 38,000 sources from over 1,300 locations worldwide. Since its inception, OSRP has grown from recovering only sealed sources containing one transuranic (TRU) isotope, Pu-239, in the early days of the program, to recovering sealed sources containing several other TRU and non-TRU isotopes. Primarily, OSRP's mission includes Pu-238, Pu-239, Am-241, Cf-252, Cm-244, Sr-90, Cs-137, Co-60, Ir-192 and Ra-226 sources that are US-origin, defense related and not commercially disposable. Over the lifetime of this program the types of recoveries performed have expanded from a single site to multi-site round-up recoveries. An additional approach, referred to as self-ship recoveries, is also used in cases where only a few sources may be present at a licensee's site. In these situations, the licensee ships their source(s) to an OSRP staging facility for ultimate consolidation and disposal. OSRP recovers sources from many types of licensees, with the majority of sources being removed from industry, universities and hospitals. These include sealed sources used in industrial radiological devices like moisture-density gauges and thickness gauges, medical devices such as blood irradiators and radiotherapy devices and sealed sources from nuclear power plants, among others. The recovery and management of sealed sources is a complex process covering multidisciplinary areas, including source construction, characteristics of the radioactive material, source packaging and transportation per DOT regulations, safe and secure storage, and final disposition per waste acceptance criteria of repository sites. (authors)

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

Off-Site Source Recovery Project Overview.

This report introduces the Off-Site Source Recovery project and gives a summary of domestic and international work. The mission of OSRP is to eliminate excess, unwanted, abandoned, or orphan radioactive sealed sources that pose a potential risk to health, safety, and national security. OSRP identifies and tracks disused sealed sources potentially requiring recovery, and performs special form encapsulation for sealed sources to simplify transportation.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

IRAD-MPE Radiation Source Recovery (Day 4) [Slides]

The objective of this module is to review emergency response radiation detection equipment, operational and safety procedures, and best practices for planning that are required to conduct a successful radiological source recovery operation.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Offsite Source Recovery Program; High Activity Beta Gamma Removal, Transport and Disposition - 19663

The Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) Office of Radiological Security's (ORS) Off-Site Source Recovery Program (OSRP) has been tasked with the removal and disposition of radioactive sealed sources in the interest of national security and public health and safety. It is the mission of the program to recover radioactive sources to prevent them from falling into the hands of individuals who would use this material for malicious intent. OSRP is a collaborative effort involving Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). At the inception of the program, Pu-239 was the only isotope acceptable for recovery. As a wider security scope developed, OSRP expanded its mission to include the recovery of other sources that posed a potential risk to national security, health, and safety. Starting in 2004, OSRP began recovering cesium and cobalt devices, largely from medical, research, and industrial facilities. These disused higher-activity devices present a burden to licensees in terms of security, and demand for OSRP's assistance in removing them has been high. Today, OSRP removes around 40 high-activity devices per year in support of domestic demand as well as ORS's Cesium Irradiator Replacement Project (CIRP). This represents an average of over 50,000 Ci of Cs-137 and Co-60 removed from the private sector each year for permanent disposition. A major component of this effort is the use of the proper shipping container to transport the devices. As a way to increase transportation capabilities ORS has developed two new Type B containers. The most recently completed of these containers, the 435-B, is currently certified to transport Gammators and Gammacell-1000, -3000, and -40 irradiators in an overpack configuration. This provides greater capacity and flexibility to safely and effectively transport these devices, for which acceptable shipping configurations had been previously limited. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Off-Site Source Recovery Program [Slides]

Radioactive sealed sources have been in general use for more than 100 years. Sealed sources are used in medicine, research, agriculture, construction, oil and gas exploration…every day. Not all sources owned by licensees have a commercial disposal pathway. For over 20 years the OSRP mission has been to remove those unwanted radioactive sealed sources that pose a potential risk to national security, public health and safety.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2018

Radiation Source Recovery

International Radiological Assistance Program Training for Emergency Response course in Rabat, Morocco Feb 19-23, 2018 for DOE/NNSA/NA-81.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Off-Site Source Recovery Program: Overview

OSRP Mission: Eliminate excess, unwanted, abandoned, or orphaned radioactive sealed sources that pose a potential risk to health, safety, and national security.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2016

Recovering New Type of Sources by Off-Site Source Recovery Project for WIPP Disposal - 16604

OSRP uses two types of eligible packaging configurations for Cm-244 and Cf-252 disposal to WIPP: an S-100 drum and a 12'' Pipe Overpack (POC) drum. Both types of packaging are WIPP accepted configurations for Contact Handled (CH) waste, which offer different advantages and disadvantages when used in the case of the two isotopes. The S-100 is a poly-shielded type A, 55 gallon drum, containing a 6'' diameter POC. The 12'' POC drum is a type A, 55 gallon drum without the internal poly-shield and with a pipe component of 12'' diameter. The S-100 drum presents the advantage of poly-shielding which is very important for neutron sources, such as the Cf-252, or Cm-244Be, at the expense of reduced internal volume. The 12'' POC drum presents a larger pipe component accommodating many more sources, like Cm-244 alpha emitters or shielded Cf-252, for which the CH dose rate is not an issue. All the sources prepared for disposal to WIPP are required to be special form, as defined in 49 CFR 173.403. When OSRP recovers normal form sources, these can be packaged in a field closable DOT certified Special Form Capsule (SFC) model II or model III, thus becoming special form. These capsules are then packaged in the type-A containers. The difference between the two types of packaging is that the 12'' POC can hold more sources, or a mix of sources and capsules at the expense of less shielding. This becomes important when the TRU content criteria of 100 nCi/g of TRU waste has to be met for the drums that are packaged for WIPP disposal. Measured neutron dose rates for Cm-244 packaged in S-100 agree reasonably well with calculated dose rates based on the models developed with MCNP. Future work will include validating the model for Cm-244 packaged in 12'' POC. A 1:1 ratio of neutron to gamma is expected for Cm-244Be dose rates packaged in S-100 drums. For Cf-252 packaged in S-100 and 12'' POC, the contribution of Cf-250 to the total emission neutron rate had to be taken into account due to the increasing role of Cf-250 as sources age. The uncertainty in the measurement of Cf-252 neutron dose rate for S-100 drum was quite high due to a high neutron background. A larger Cf- 252 source needs to be used for measurements in the future, in order to fully validate the model developed. A better agreement for measured versus calculated rate was obtained for a Cf-252 packaged in 12'' POC. For the WIPP disposal of these sources, OSRP will use the best packaging configuration for these isotopes in order to minimize the dose rate and maximize the TRU content. The S-100 packaging will be used for Cf-252 and Cm-244Be sources, when neutron dose reduction by the poly-shielding is important. Neutron dose rates will be estimated using the new MCNP correlations.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

At-source Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Coal Mine Drainage

Conventional acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment consists of pH adjustment, oxidation, and separation of solid precipitates from discharge quality water. Alkaline addition increases the pH to the range 7 to 9 to precipitate the regulated metals Al and Mn ions as hydroxides. Mechanical or chemical oxidation then converts the reduced iron species Fe 2+ to Fe 3+ which precipitates at a low pH value as ferric hydroxide (Fe(OH) 3 ). Co-precipitation of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) with hydroxides creates a gangue-rich matrix from which REEs must be separated. Fe(OH)3 is generally the most abundant gangue-forming metal. Current research by the project team has shown raw, untreated AMD has an average total rare earth element content (TREE) of about 287 μg/L (0.287 ppm). Operators of AMD-producing facilities are obliged to treat it to neutralize acidity and remove regulated metals (e.g., iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), and manganese (Mn)) prior to discharge. Ongoing research indicates conventional AMD treatment concentrates TREE in resulting precipitates (AMD sludge) by an average factor of 2,635x to an average dry weight, elemental concentration of 708 g/t (ppm). While the economics of recovering REEs from AMD sludge are appealing, much of the cost of REE recovery would be incurred during separation of REEs from the gangue metals: Fe, Al, and Mn. Significant gains can be made by precipitating REEs when most of these gangue metals are still in solution. Significant improvements in REE extraction efficiency can be obtained through separation of REEs from the aqueous phase AMD, upstream of conventional AMD treatment by: 1) creating an enriched REE feedstock, 2) producing a more consistent feedstock, 3) reducing transportation costs to an REE refinery, 4) reducing acid consumption in the acid leaching step, and 5) reducing the volume of waste produced at the ALSX plant. This project is exploring two novel approaches for extracting REEs upstream of the conventional AMD treatment plants to create a purified REE feedstock while leaving the bulk of the Fe, Al, and Mn in solution for subsequent treatment. While the average TREE concentration of raw AMD is low and individual sites range between 10 and 2,200 μg/L, successful at-source REE separation will generate a superior feedstock to a conventional ALSX process and significantly improve the economics and environmental performance of REE extraction from AMD. AMD can be classified into two types: type A is net acid and iron is partly oxidized while type B is net alkaline, and iron occurs in the reduced, ferrous state. In Case A, the pH is raised slightly, which will precipitate Fe 3+ and Al 3+ but not REEs. The other important type of AMD is net alkaline water found in flooded, anoxic deep mines. These generally have a pH > 6.0 and are net alkaline. REE concentrations are also much lower than those found in acidic AMD while the volumes and flux are much higher. Most of these are pumped discharges with almost no Al. Case B AMD is strongly reduced and, like Case A water, Fe and Mn ions are similarly reduced and therefore soluble at pH <9.0. REEs and an array of transition ions will be the only trivalent cations in this type of AMD. In Case B, both upward pH adjustment under reducing conditions and application of an electrochemically stimulated supported liquid membrane strategy to separate REEs from ferrous ion will be explored.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2026

Evaluation of the Radiological Characterization for Off-Site Source Recovery Program Waste Streams LA-OS-00-01.001, LA-OS-00-03, and LA-OS-00-04

The purpose of this memorandum is to satisfy the requirements of Section 4.4 of the CCP Acceptable Knowledge Documentation procedure CCP-TP-005 (Ref. 1). This evaluation is updating the previously issued memo NEN3:24-045 issued in August 2024. CCP-TP-005 requires an AK Expert and the OSRP group to evaluate the radionuclide characterization of a waste stream and prepare the NDA Memorandum (letter to CCP Records). This NDA memorandum was written with input from the OSRP group, as required by CCP-TP-005. This memo includes a discussion of the limitations for the radiological characterization and a description of the characterization method.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

International Radiological/Nuclear Training for Emergency Response - Major Public Events Virtual Workshop: Alarm Interdiction and Adjudication and Source Recovery (Day 4) [Slides]

The objective of this presentation is for participants to understand the process for interdicting and adjudicating radiation alarms and review operational scenarios for radiological emergency response best practices. The specific goal is for participants to: (1) Become familiar with the Primary and Secondary Inspection process for alarm interdiction, investigation, and adjudication, (2) Gain knowledge of common operational scenarios where alarm interdiction, investigation and adjudication are conducted as best practices, and (3) Review several scenarios that could be encountered as part of the Nuclear Security measures for an MPE.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗