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| Technology Title : Integrated Decontamination and Characterization System and Method |
| Inventor: |
Ebadian, M.A.
Boudreaux, Joseph
Lagos, Leonel |
Patent Number: U.S. 6,447,366 |
| FIU Technology Number: IP - 19 |
Patent Issue Date: 9/10/2002 |
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| Brief Technology Description, including novel features: |
| FIU-HCET has developed and demonstrated a field Mobile Integrated Piping Decontamination and Characterization (MIP-DC) System, which can decontaminate, characterize, and segregate piping and structural steel with minimal human interaction. The technology consists of decontamination, ventilation, characterization, and offloading modules. The large bore pipes and structural elements are loaded on an entrance conveyor, which transfers the contaminated material to a centrifugal wheel grit blast chamber for external pipe decontamination. The conveyor then transfers the material to a second station where the pipe is lifted, rotated, and blasted by using a compressed air lance for internal pipe decontamination. The material is then transferred to a characterization module. The characterization module is capable of meeting DOE Order 5400.5 and Regulatory Guide 1.86 for the unrestricted reuse of reactor and uranium contaminated components with contaminants such as U-238, Th-228, Cs-137, Co-60. A ventilation module equipped with a dust collector and nuclear-rated HEPA filtration system supports the decontamination module ensuring operations are performed under negative pressure. The last module consists of a off-loading system that segregates the pipes based on information received from the characterization module. All information is capture by the computer system and free release reports can be customized per DOE/NRC and customer's requirements. |
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| Degree of Technical Development of Technology: |
The technology is fully developed and a prototype system was constructed. In addition, the technology was demonstrated at Consumer Energy's Big Rock Point Facility (BRP) in Michigan as part of the cooperative efforts between the utility industry and the DOE. The technology was demonstrated using contaminated 8-inch diameter carbon steel and 17-inch diameter stainless steel pipes. The pipes processed ranged between 5 ft to 7 ft in length. A total of 90 linear ft of pipe was processed with a total surface area of 655 ft2 (approximately 6375 lbs.). Pre-decon and post-decon radiological surveys were collected by BRP's Health Physics (PH) personnel using a hand-held frisker and by taking smears for gamma analysis in the lab. These data were compared to readings collected by MIP-DC's characterization module. |
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