Decontamination of Cs-137, Pu-239, and Am-241 from Hard Surfaces using

a Peelable Polymer-based Hydrogel

2008 HPS Annual Meeting

Pittsburgh, PA07/14/08

G. J. Edgington1, M. P. O’Neill1, and K.C. Holt-Larese2

Additional work by M. Sutton3, R. P. Fischer3, and M. M. Thoet3

1 Cellular Bioengineering, Inc. (CBI), Honolulu, HI2 Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM3 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA

MPM-D.7

NRC000052Submitted: March 30, 2012

Uni

ted

Stat

es N

ucle

ar R

egul

ator

y C

omm

issi

on O

ffici

al H

earin

g Ex

hibi

t

In th

e M

atte

r of:

Ent

ergy

Nuc

lear

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ratio

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nc.

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to li

ft co

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uble

che

lato

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ind

cont

amin

ants

for t

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port

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onta

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ants

pul

led

into

pol

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n dr

ying

–E

ntra

pped

in re

hydr

atab

le p

olym

er m

atrix

App

ly�

Dry

�P

eel

Dec

embe

r 200

7 –

•San

dia

appl

ied

2nd

coat

of D

G11

01 to

sa

me

test

cou

pons

that

ha

d be

en d

econ

ned

in

Oct

ober

.

•Res

ults

sho

w 2

nd

deco

n ef

ficac

ies

as

good

or b

ette

r tha

n 1s

t ap

plic

atio

n.

Not

es: M

DA

= M

inim

um d

etec

tabl

e ac

tivity

C P

u=

conc

rete

, plu

toni

um; C

S A

m =

car

bon

stee

l, am

eric

ium

; SS

= s

tain

less

ste

el; P

= P

lexi

glas

; etc

Oct

ober

200

7 –

CB

I com

mis

sion

ed e

ffica

cy

test

ing

for D

G11

01 o

n:

•Con

cret

e (C

)

•Car

bon

stee

l (C

S)

•Sta

inle

ss s

teel

(SS

)

•Ple

xigl

as (P

)

Con

tam

inat

ed w

ith:

•Pu-

239

•Am

-241

•Cs-

137

0.32

00.

403

0.85

9P

Pu-

10.

310

0.40

50.

903

P P

u-2

0.08

20.

181

1.04

5SS

Pu-

10.

021

0.05

60.

978

SS P

u-2

0.00

10.

009

0.98

3C

S P

u-1

0.00

20.

021

0.97

7C

S P

u-2

0.07

80.

176

1.00

5C

Pu-

1 0.

146

0.25

70.

902

C P

u-2

0.95

30.

912

0.98

60.

998

1.00

20.

998

0.97

41.

006

0.91

31.

002

0.94

70.

961

0.94

90.

994

0.88

80.

980

Initi

al

Act

ivity

( �

Ci)

<MD

A0.

004

P C

s-2

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P C

s-1

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019

SS

Cs-

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0.03

9S

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CS

Cs-

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0.01

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S C

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0.74

50.

822

C C

s-2

0.73

70.

834

C C

s-1

0.00

10.

012

P A

m-2

0.00

10.

011

P A

m-1

0.13

50.

171

SS

Am

-20.

172

0.21

0S

S A

m-1

0.00

30.

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CS

Am

-20.

001

0.01

2C

S A

m-1

0.05

00.

149

C A

m-2

0.06

30.

169

C A

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Act

ivity

afte

r 2n

dD

econ

( �

Ci)

Act

ivity

afte

r 1s

tD

econ

( �

Ci)

Cou

pon

Nam

e

Dec

onta

min

atio

n Te

stin

g of

DG

110

1R

adio

nucl

ide

Sol

utio

ns–

NIS

T tra

ceab

le

–P

repa

red

1uC

i/ml f

rom

sto

ck s

olut

ions

–A

m-2

41: A

mC

l 3in

1N

HC

l–

Pu-2

39: P

u(N

O3)

4in

4M

HN

O3

–C

s-13

7: C

sCli

n 0.

1M H

Cl

Cou

pon

Mat

eria

ls–

Con

stru

ctio

n gr

ade

conc

rete

cor

es, u

nifo

rmly

sec

tione

d –

Car

bon

stee

l 3”x

3”x

1/8

”–

300-

serie

s S

tain

less

ste

el 3

”x 3

”x 1

/4”

–Pl

exiG

las

3”x

3”

Dec

onta

min

atio

n Te

stin

g of

DG

110

1C

oupo

n C

onta

min

atio

n–

Pla

ced

on w

ire ra

cks

–~1

�C

ieac

h de

posi

ted

usin

g pi

petto

r–

Car

bon

stee

l sho

wed

vis

ible

cor

rosi

on

Cou

pon

Coa

ting

App

licat

ion

and

Rem

oval

–In

itial

cou

nts

mea

sure

d–

Cou

pons

coa

ted

with

DG

1101

, spr

ead

with

spa

tula

and

ex

cess

allo

wed

to d

rip o

ff–

24 h

r. dr

y tim

e–

All

coup

ons

easy

to p

eel,

mos

t diff

icul

t was

con

cret

e–

Coa

tings

all

rem

oved

in s

ingl

e sh

eet w

ith n

o fra

ctur

e–

Car

bon

stee

l no

long

er h

ad v

isib

le c

orro

sion

on

surfa

ce

Dec

onta

min

atio

n Te

stin

g of

DG

110

1

Ana

lytic

al M

etho

d an

d D

ata

Wor

kup

–C

s-13

7 co

unte

d fo

r 100

0 s

w/C

anbe

rra

Ge

dete

ctor

, pea

k ar

ea u

sed

to c

alcu

late

act

ivity

–A

m-2

41 a

nd P

u-23

9 co

unte

d fo

r 120

s

w/L

udlu

m 4

3-1

and

Ebe

rline

E60

0

–C

alib

ratio

n co

upon

s us

ed fo

r all

case

s–

% D

econ

= In

itial

Act

ivity

–Fi

nal A

ctiv

ityx

100

Initi

al A

ctiv

ity

0%10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Con

cret

eC

arbo

n st

eel

Stai

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s st

eel

Plex

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s

Mat

eria

l

% Decon

Pu Am Cs

1st

deco

n

2nd

deco

n

Res

ults

Pu

Glo

vebo

xD

econ

at L

LNL

Glo

vebo

x(~

4 ½

ft x

8 ft

x 9

ft)–

Cas

t ste

el fl

oor,

Al w

alls

, Lex

an®

win

dow

s an

d H

ypal

on®

glov

es

–C

omm

issi

oned

in 1

964

to c

old

roll

Pu

met

al–

In 1

996

a sp

ill of

Pu-

238

occu

rred

–M

easu

rem

ents

at <

1 in

ch >

>1,0

00,0

00 c

pm(o

ff-sc

ale)

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revi

ous

unsu

cces

sful

dec

onta

min

atio

n ef

forts

invo

lved

a

com

mer

cial

ly a

vaila

ble

strip

pabl

e fil

m c

oatin

g

Fiel

d Te

stD

G 1

101

App

licat

ion

–A

pplie

d w

ith tr

owel

, allo

wed

to d

ry o

vern

ight

–Le

xan®

win

dow

dec

onne

d2x

, Ste

el fl

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nd A

l sid

ing

3x–

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mea

sure

d as

ratio

of o

rigin

al a

lpha

act

ivity

at 1

.5 in

ch s

tand

-off

to a

ctiv

ity m

easu

red

afte

r eac

h de

con

–In

itial

con

tam

inat

ion

leve

ls a

vera

ged

•74

,000

dpm

for c

ast s

teel

hor

izon

tal f

loor

•56

,000

dpm

for a

lum

inum

sid

ing

•54

,000

dpm

for L

exan

win

dow

Res

ults

One

app

licat

ion

–A

ctiv

ity o

n st

eel f

loor

was

redu

ced

by 5

7% (S

D=7

%) a

nd o

n th

e Le

xan

win

dow

by

37%

(SD

=8%

)

Add

ition

al a

pplic

atio

ns–

Lexa

nw

indo

w a

fter 2

ndap

plic

atio

n ov

eral

l 99.

5% re

mov

al (S

D=0

.1%

)–

Ste

el fl

oor a

fter 2

ndan

d 3rd

appl

icat

ion

over

all 9

9.4%

(SD

=0.3

%)

–A

fter 2

and

3 a

pplic

atio

ns o

f DG

110

1, a

ctiv

ity w

as re

duce

d to

<40

0 dp

min

alm

ost a

ll ca

ses

–G

iven

the

high

ly c

onta

min

ated

nat

ure

of th

e su

rface

s w

ithin

the

glov

e-bo

x, th

is d

econ

tam

inat

ion

effic

ienc

y is

con

side

red

exce

llent

Ope

ratio

nal P

ersp

ectiv

es

•Th

e N

ucle

ar M

ater

ials

Pro

cess

ing

and

Tech

nolo

gy P

rogr

am p

erso

nnel

co

nduc

ting

the

deco

nac

tiviti

es re

porte

d th

at th

e m

ater

ial h

ad a

goo

d w

orka

bilit

y an

d al

low

ed s

uffic

ient

wor

king

tim

e be

fore

dry

ing.

•In

gen

eral

the

mat

eria

l adh

ered

to th

e si

des

of th

e gl

ove-

box

with

out a

n ex

cess

ive

amou

nt o

f drip

ping

bei

ng o

bser

ved.

•D

G 1

101

was

abl

e to

pen

etra

te c

revi

ces

and

was

eas

ily re

mov

ed fr

om a

ll su

rface

s w

ith th

e ex

cept

ion

of th

e H

ypal

on®

glov

es.

•W

hile

han

d ap

plic

atio

n w

as u

sed

for t

he s

tudy

, per

sonn

el c

omm

ente

d th

at

spra

y ap

plic

atio

n m

ight

be

adva

ntag

eous

for f

utur

e ap

plic

atio

ns.

•[C

omm

ent f

rom

CB

I: D

G 1

120

is n

ow a

vaila

ble

for s

pray

app

licat

ions

.]

Sum

mar

y•

Lab

Env

iron

–D

econ

Gel

110

1 de

mon

stra

ted

effe

ctiv

e on

Pu-

239,

Am

-24

1, a

nd C

s-13

7 ra

dioi

soto

pes

–2nd

deco

nfa

ctor

s as

goo

d or

bet

ter t

han

1stap

plic

atio

n

–C

s on

con

cret

e m

ost d

iffic

ult c

ase,

R&

D in

pro

gres

s

•Fi

eld

App

licat

ion

–A

pplic

atio

n of

DG

110

1 to

Pu

deco

nof

hig

hly

cont

amin

ated

gl

oveb

oxat

LLN

L de

mon

stra

ted

exce

llent

effi

cacy

ove

rall

•Fu

ll R

epor

ts A

vaila

ble

–S

andi

a an

d LL

NL

repo

rts a

vaila

ble

upon

requ

est a

t CB

I bo

oth

or c

onta

ct M

. O’N

eill,

CTO

, CB

I

–m

onei

ll@ce

llula

rbio

engi

neer

ing.

com