Hanford Single-Pass Reactor Fuel Storage Basin Demolition

Abstract

The Environmental Restoration Contractor at the Hanford Site is tasked with removing auxiliary reactor structures and leaving the remaining concrete structure surrounding each reactor core. This is referred to as Interim Safe Storage. Part of placing the F Reactor into Interim Safe Storage is the demolition of the fuel storage basin, which was deactivated in 1970 by placing debris material into the basin prior to back filling with soil. Besides the debris material (wooden floor decking, handrails, and monorail pieces), the fuel storage basin contents included the possibility of spent nuclear fuel, fuel buckets, fuel spacers, process tubes, and tongs. Demolition of the fuel storage basin offered many unique radiological control challenges and innovative approaches to demolition. This paper describes how the total effective dose equivalent and contamination were controlled, how the use of a remote operated excavator was employed to remove high-dose-rate material, and how wireless technology was used to monitor changing radiological conditions.