Production Support Lab

DOE-HDBK-3010-94

7.0 Application Examples; Production Support Lab Example

decisions reflect on the overall issue discussed in the first paragraph. In this case, however,

the explicit question is how many poorly definable assumptions need to be piled on top of

each other before the source term estimated is practically bounding? These types of

questions cannot be answered without carefully defining the purpose of the estimate within an

overall context. As previously noted, source term estimates are not capable of providing

proof of safety; they can only provide information that supports general bases for

decisionmaking.

7.3.11

Production Support Lab

Release topics explored in this example are listed in Table 7-14.

Table 7-14. Production Support Lab Example Topics

Liquid

Metal

Powder

Surface

Criticality

Contamination

- Thermal stress

- Self-sustained

- Thermal stress

- HEPA thermal

- None

- Venting

combustion

- Accelerated

stress

superheated liquid

airflow parallel to

- Crush-impact

- Free-fall spill

surface

enclosed HEPA

- Resuspension

- Free-fall spill

filters

- Shock-impact

- Air turbulence

from falling debris

- Resuspension

7.3.11.1

Hazard Summary

The Production Support Lab conducts small sample analysis on materials generated in the

Plutonium Recovery Facility. There are eight lab rooms that conduct liquid sampling, solid

sampling, emission spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, thermogravimetric analysis, atomic

absorption testing, and raschig ring testing. Plutonium is present in gloveboxes in liquid

form in 20-ml glass sample vials and 2-l leftover sample collection jugs for recycle to

plutonium recovery processes. Solid plutonium is present in at most 10-g quantities in small

glass vials. Small amounts of plutonium in liquid and solid are also handled outside

containers as part of the analytical gloveboxes in the form of samples in transfer containers,

waste pails, and small counting planchettes containing trace quantities. Waste pails are sent

to the Plutonium Recovery Facility for storage.

The lab facility, while not characterized by heavy combustible loading, has more combustible

material than the processing lines in the plutonium recovery facility plutonium-handling

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