CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/450689
FEBRUARY 2015 34 CompositesWorld INSIDE MANUFACTURING » Opened in 1999, 42 km southeast of Carlsbad, NM, US, the US Department of Energy's (DoE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) stores clothing, tools, equipment, soils and other materials contaminated by man-made radioactive elements that have been removed from 22 defense-related environmental clean-up sites to date. Kept in disposal rooms carved out of a 762m-thick salt deposit 655m below the earth's surface, most of the waste (96%) can be contact- handled (CH) by personnel, does not require additional shielding and is stacked in columns within the underground storage cells. Te remaining 4% is deposited in chambers bored into the cell walls, requires shielding and is remotely handled (RH) waste — that is, robots and other machinery are used to transport it (see top photo on p. 35). When a 55-gal drum of CH waste burst in February 2014, a small quantity of radioactive material was released to the surface through the WIPP's ventilation system. No one was injured, and when all WIPP workers were tested for radiation, none showed exposure levels higher than that of a typical medical X-ray. Nevertheless, the next step was a full investigation of the accident to determine the extent of the damage in the storage room in an efort to re-establish optimal operational safety. WIPP requested quotes for a steel support structure and cantilevered 27m beam that could deploy a 7-kg sensor package. Te system, called REACH, would have to be delivered in pieces that could be assembled underground. Further, the beam would have to be maneuverable, laterally and vertically, around waste containers to facilitate remote video assessment without disturbing post-eruption radioactive particulate that had settled on storage-area surfaces. CFRP camera boom enables safe spill inspection NONA Composites' 32m REACH structure meets tight remediation schedule at DoE radioactive waste storage site. By Ginger Gardiner / Senior Editor