The storage room built next to the main building has been dismantled and prepared for transport to the disposal facility. Radiation surveys found contamination behind the wallboard on the concrete block walls.
The 2 Americium-Berylium (AmBe) sources have been removed from the Site by the Bureau of Radiation Control and will be sent to the Los Alamos Lab in New Mexico.
One particularly 'hot' drum was investigated. Europium-154 had been identified as the isotope in the drum. Europium-154 is an unusual isotope and not expected in the Gulf Nuclear cache. The activity was high enough and the geometry of how the activity was seen that it suggested a radioactive source. The investigation showed a beaker with acid-wash residue that was high in Europium-154. The Texas Bureau of Radiation Control confirmed with contacts that Gulf Nuclear had used a process to produce Gadolinium, and Europium was a by-broduct.
The plan for the Site is the complete removal of all material. The radioactive sources and wastes will be removed and disposed of at proper offsite disposal facilities.
The crews will continue to prepare the material for disposal. Several roll-off boxes of contaminated debris are full and ready for rail shipment to the disposal facility.
|
