Copper Cable Recycling Technology. Innovative Technology Summary Report

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) continually seeks safer and more cost-effective technologies for use in deactivation and decommissioning (D and D) of nuclear facilities. The Deactivation and Decommissioning Focus Area (DDFA) of the DOE's Office of Science and Technology (OST) sponsors large-scale demonstration and deployment projects (LSDDPs). At these LSDDPs, developers and vendors of improved or innovative technologies showcase products that are potentially beneficial to the DOE's projects and to others in the D and D community. Benefits sought include decreased health and safety risks to personnel and the environment, increased productivity, and decreased costs of operation. The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) generated a list of statements defining specific needs and problems where improved technology could be incorporated into ongoing D and D tasks. One such need is to reduce the volume of waste copper wire and cable generated by D and D. Deactivation and decommissioning activities of nuclear facilities generates hundreds of tons of contaminated copper cable, which are sent to radioactive waste disposal sites. The Copper Cable Recycling Technology separates the clean copper from contaminated insulation and dust materials in these cables. The recovered copper can then be reclaimed and, more importantly, landfill disposal volumes can be reduced. The existing baseline technology for disposing radioactively contaminated cables is to package the cables in wooden storage boxes and dispose of the cables in radioactive waste disposal sites. The Copper Cable Recycling Technology is applicable to facility decommissioning projects at many Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear facilities and commercial nuclear power plants undergoing decommissioning activities. The INEEL Copper Cable Recycling Technology Demonstration investigated the effectiveness and efficiency to recycle 13.5 tons of copper cable. To determine the effectiveness of separating out radioactive contamination, the copper cable was coated with a surrogate contaminant. The demonstration took place at the Bonneville County Technology Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho. This document contains information on the above-mentioned technology, including description, applicability, cost, and performance data