The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) have achieved the first-year goal for processing oxide waste at the Transuranic Waste Processing Center months ahead of schedule, progressing toward the removal of this legacy material from the Oak Ridge Reservation.
Typical transuranic waste, such as equipment, tools or protective materials, contains low levels of radioactive contamination. However, the oxide waste has bulk quantities of finely divided radioactive particles or powders.
Some of this material is more than 50 years old. It was generated at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory during radiochemical and isotope development operations. Once those activities concluded, the waste was placed in secure storage containers, where it remained until now…