KEWAUNEE NUCLEAR POWER STATION’S (KPS) CURRENT SITUATION
The objective of this Facilities Project is to deploy a concrete sampling and profiling tool developed and deployed by New Millennium Nuclear Technologies International, Inc (NMNTI; Lakewood, Colorado, USA) to Kewaunee Nuclear Power Station (KPS) Site facilities. The site’s power block concrete slabs and structures are to be sampled and profiled at numerous locations in support of cost-effective waste minimization and safe removal of contaminated material for the KPS Decommissioning Project.
Kewaunee Solutions, Inc. (KS) is in the process of D&D for KPS Reactors and adjoining facilities. These facilities must be dismantled, and the demolition waste sized into manageable pieces for handling and disposal. The facilities undergoing D&D are typically chemically and radiologically contaminated or activated. To facilitate this work, KS requires tools capable of rapidly profiling the bulk building materials to a depth between 0.5” to 6” surface depth rapidly and representatively without cross contamination of incremental samples from the power block concrete and balance of the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Station (KPS) plant. The system and NMNTI staff worked very reliably for a sustained effort, collecting 1231 samples from 287 sampling locations over the duration of this phase of the project. This work scope was successfully performed over four months, and the staff adapted to the unique working controls. Energy Solutions saved significantly in time and expense by selecting NMNTI’s expertise, adaptability, and technology over self-performing the work. Profiling the concretes of the Auxiliary (AUX) building, Turbine building, Balance of Plant (BOP) inside Restricted Area: Technical Support Centre (TSC); Administration Training Building (ATF); Screen House; Forebay; Gatehouse and Maintenance building, and the BOP outside Restricted Area: Sewage Treatment Facility to depth included the following desired capabilities and design features of the equipment: (a) powered by a facility electric supply coupled to 100-foot power cables, (b) removal of approximately 1231concrete samples from 287 locations (c) remove between 0.5 inch to 6.0 inch from 287 predetermined sampling points incremental depths of potentially contaminated concrete, (d) collection of all concrete particulate from sampling operations into specialized filter units and (e) produce representative samples in a powdered form for optimal counting by a portable gamma spectrometer in the on-site lab.
The results acquired from KPS sites concrete using TruPro® were used to develop a more detailed subsurface radiological contamination profile from which a strategy of clean-up action can be derived. There is a need to detect Fission & Activation Product and bound the extent of contamination from historical spills. This project by NMNTI maximized the stockpile of uncontaminated recyclable concrete from the demolition of KPS concrete buildings and slabs using TruPro®.