Design and Operation of a Plutonium Laboratory

The growth of the nuclear power industry will be dependent upon the ability to economically utilize plutonium. With the present emphasis on the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LAAFBR), considerable knowledge has been gained in the fabrication of plutonium-bearing fuels. However, there is a general lack of appreciation for the problems and difficulties associated with plutonium operations. The extreme toxicity of plutonium requires that it be contained in specially designed glove boxes within laboratories that have been specifically designed for handling plutonium. Although the design criteria for any plutonium laboratory must conform to current AEC guidelines (1) on the construction of such facilities, this paper attempts to provide some insight on the design and operation of a plutonium laboratory by describing a laboratory which was designed and built based on several years of experience in plutonium operations. This laboratory, the Fuel Cycle Alpha Facility (FCAF), was constructed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1970 to perform fabrication development on plutoniumbearing fuels, primarily for the LMFBR and for the High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR). The FCAF consists of three alpha containment laboratories, a change room and storage area, and air lock to the building corridor. A floor plan of the FCAF is shown in Fig. 1.