Nevada Test Site
Nevada Test Site (NTS)
October 1999
Five facilities at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) are slated for Decontamination and Decommissioning (D&D) in the next seven years. The first facilities to be surveyed for D&D are located in the Industrial Area of the NTS, formerly called the Nuclear Rocket Development Station (NRDS). To support characterization of the facilities for D&D planning, surface contamination measurements for alpha and beta radiation were needed, as well as surveys for external exposure rate (gamma).
The Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Science and Technology (EM-50) together with the Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) contracted the Millennium Services Inc. / Shonka Research Associates Inc. team to provide characterization survey services using the Surface Contamination Monitor / Survey Information Management System (SCM/SIMS) through the Accelerated Site Technology Deployment (ASTD) Project.
The SCM/SIMS Deployment Project had two objectives:
- Demonstrate the technical, schedule, and cost efficiencies that can be obtained using SCM/SIMS to characterize the distribution of radiological contamination compared to traditional methods; and,
- Provide a preliminary characterization of radiological contamination on large concrete surfaces at several identified Deactivation and Decommissioning Industrial Sites.
Surveys were conducted at Test Cell C, the Engine Test Stand (ETS) Decontamination Pad, and the Reactor Maintenance Assembly and Disassembly (R-MAD) Decontamination Building in Area 25 of the NTS. Nearly 3 million measurements were recorded which summarized the status of 3700 full or partial square meters at the three sites. As expected, the use of SCM/SIMS proved far superior to the conventional / baseline method and also resulted in significant cost savings. Click here for a report.
