Year
2025
Abstract
The Surplus Plutonium Dispositio n Program is utilizing gloveboxes at the Savannah River Site (SRS) to unpack, dilute, and repackage surplus plutonium.. Plutonium control and accountability is central to the SPD mission. As a result, it was necessary to develop a system capable of greater accuracy than the current method that would also minimally impact operations in the glovebox. The current methodology to measure holdup requires the use of ISOCS carts, which may take intermittent holdup measurements but do not achieve an unobstructed view of the glovebox interior. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have partnered to develop an improved methodology for holdup measurement: the Gamma Imagery Light Fixture Assembly (GILFA) is a fixed detector imaging system mounted to several glovebox light fixtures that will provide a continuous stream of plutonium holdup measurement data inside the glovebox. A key design requirement for the GILFA system is to validate the measurement capabilities of the detectors at any point in time. To meet this requirement, SRNL has developed a quality control system (QC) using three (3) stationary, permanent calibration sources mounted beneath the glovebox. The source selection, the effectiveness of this QC system on the GILFA system, and the dose rates that the QC system would impose on glovebox workers have each been evaluated using an MCNP6 model of the proposed glovebox and GILFA system.