The 12th International Conference on Environmental ... - Events

Session 41-42 Abstracts
• Work undertaken taken to decide upon the overall form and configuration of the building.
• Insight into the design of the passive cooling system.
• Work undertaken to ensure that Nuclear Safety is an integral factor in the design and construction of the facility.
• Overall project status.
In concluding, the author will outline some of his key learning points from his period of eight years as manager of the design
of the SPRS facility.
8) ENGINEERING CHALLENGES IN THE MECHANICAL DESIGN OF A NEW SHIELDED
SHIPPING CASK FOR VITRIFIED WASTE PRODUCTS - 16256
R.K. Gupta, S.P. Patil, D.S Sandhanshive, A.K. Singh, K.M. Singh, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (India)
VWP shipping casks are designed, built, and maintained to ensure utmost safety and conformance to regulatory requirements,
essential for handling and transport in public domain. This is achieved by proper sizing for static and dynamic stability, detailed
quality surveillance during manufacture, physical testing of models for design validation and selection of prime movers for transfer.
Actual transport is planned carefully with due cognizance to the logistics of handling and interim storage in specially engineered
cooling vaults for several decades prior to final disposal.
<strong>The</strong> closed fuel cycle adopted in our Nuclear Programme is extremely sensitive to safety and regulatory issues. But while Vitrified
Waste Packages are produced in Trombay, Tarapur and Kalpakkam, the interim storage site with engineered cooling under
surveillance is available only in Tarapur. Thus, cross country road transport of VWP Casks from Trombay (130 Kilometers) and
Kalpakkam (1200 kilometers) need careful site-specific considerations and mandatory compliance with safety guidelines.
Five years ago, such a transport cask was designed and built for Trombay plant which, at that time, produced vitrified waste
packages with activity limited to 25000 curies per canister. While the cask is still being used for shipment of VWP from Trombay
to Tarapur, the plant now requires a new cask for shipping packages for fresh batches of HLW having radioactivity levels close to
250,000 curies per canister. This paper describes the design challenges associated with the restrictions of using existing handling
facilities for loading and transporting. Authors realize that all aspects of an acceptable final design require extensive involvement
of experts from several disciplines. No single agency can do this work in isolation. But the contents of this paper are limited to
describing critical design issues from the mechanical engineers point of view. Changes made in the old design have been brought
out in respect of fabrication, physical testing, modifications of existing inter-facility-transfers at Trombay and unloading and handling
at Tarapur. One additional design consideration is horizontal mounting of the new cask on transport trailer as against the vertical
mounting currently in practice. Needless to say, design considerations adopted in the previous instance would also be touched
upon, albeit briefly. <strong>The</strong> authors have assumed that data made available to them on package size, weight, shielding and regulatory
SESSION 42 - ER SITE CHARACTERIZATION AND MONITORING - PART 2 OF 2
1) RADIOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A COPPER/COBALT MINING & MILLING SITE - 16322
Matthew Arno, Janine Arno, Foxfire Scientific (USA); Donald Halter, Foxfire Scientific, Inc. (USA);
Robert Berry, Foxfire Scientific, Inc.(UK); Stephen Gilliland, Noel Hamilton, Foxfire Scientific (USA);
Ian Hamilton, Foxfire Scientific, Inc. (USA)
Extensive copper and cobalt ore deposits can be found in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo near
the city of Kolwezi. <strong>The</strong>se deposits have been mined extensively via open pit and underground mines since the 19th century, with
many changes in control of the mines; including colonial industrial control and Congolese government control. With the recent reestablishment
of a relatively stable democratic government in the DRC, foreign investors are returning to the area to restart mining
activities that were abruptly terminated in the 1990s due to political turmoil. <strong>The</strong>se new projects are being performed in accordance
with World Bank and <strong>International</strong> Finance Corporation Social & Environmental Sustainability standards. As part of these standards,
radiological characterization of the mines, processing facilities, and surrounding environment was conducted to establish current
conditions, evaluate human health and ecological risks, and provide a basis for establishment of radiation safety and environmental
remediation programs. In addition to Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials associated with the copper and cobalt ore,
the site was reputedly historically used to store ore from the Shinkolobwe uranium mine, the source of the uranium ore for the Manhattan
project.
<strong>The</strong> radiological characterization was conducted via extensive gamma radiation surveys using vehicle-mounted sodium-iodide
detectors, random grid composite soil sampling, biased soil sampling of areas with elevated gamma radiation levels, and sampling
of surface water features. <strong>The</strong> characterization revealed broad areas of elevated gamma radiation levels of up to 160 µGy/hr in two
distinct areas believed to be the Shinkolobwe uranium mine ore storage locations. Other areas, with gamma radiation levels of up
to 80 µGy/hr, were detected associated with ore refining tailings and waste rock (overburden) sediments.
2) RADIOACTIVITY IN SURFACE AND GROUNDWATER NEAR OLD RADIUM AND URANIUM MINES IN
PORTUGAL - 16258
Fernando P. Carvalho, Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear(Portugal);
João M. Oliveira, Magarida Malta, Nuclear and Technological Institute (Portugal)
Concerns with the potential radiological hazards posed by the uranium mining and milling wastes have been the rational for
radioactivity measurements in surface and groundwater of the Centre-North region of Portugal. Water samples collected in former
uranium mines, in streams, in irrigation wells, and in drinking water supplies to villages of this region were analyzed for uranium
series radionuclides by radiochemistry and alpha spectrometry. For example, water from the Bica Mine (Sabugal), contained 4.4
Bq L-1 , 1.5 Bq L-1 , and 0.48 Bq L-1 of dissolved 238U, 226Ra and 210Po, respectively, and these were the highest concentrations
measured in waters from the region. Water samples from mines where no sulfuric acid was used for in situ uranium leaching were
under 150 mBq L-1 of 238U and 226Ra and even less for other dissolved radionuclides. Water from irrigation wells in the region
generally displayed concentrations under 50 mBq L-1 both for 238U and for 226Ra, but several wells near the Bica Mine displayed
enhanced concentrations of dissolved uranium, reaching 820 mBq L-1 of 238U. Drinking water from public water supplies in the
villages and towns of this region contained 238U, 226Ra, 230Th, 210Po and 232Th generally below 50 mBq L-1 each, and total alpha
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