DESIGN EVALUATION OF A LARGE CONCRETE CASK TO MEET IP-2 REQUIREMENTS

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has a large quantity of low-level waste, in the form of concrete monoliths, that are stored in large concrete vaults in ORNL’s Melton Valley Storage Tanks (MVST). During FY 2000, a number of the monoliths were transferred from the concrete vaults to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-certified lead-shielded cask and shipped to the Nevada Test Site (NTS) for disposal. This activity has resulted in (1) increased radiation exposure both when the monoliths were transferred to the lead-shielded cask and when they were unloaded and buried at the NTS and (2) high cask rental and shipping costs for the program, and (3) the accumulation of empty vaults at ORNL which will also have to be disposed of at NTS, adding a significant additional transportation cost. As a result, Department of Energy (DOE)–Oak Ridge has been exploring ways to ship the MVST cask with its monolith to the NTS for disposal as a unit. To do this, the MVST cask would have to be self-certified as meeting IP-2 package requirements.