The Orion Scansort soil sorting system - 59385

Document available in abstract form only. Full text of publication follows: Radiologically contaminated sites undergoing remediation or decommissioning typically have large volumes of soil which are heterogeneously contaminated by radioactivity from historic operations. There is a severe shortage of available disposal space for this type of material worldwide. It is, therefore, important that volumes being disposed are minimized as far as possible to ensure efficient use of scarcely available radioactive waste disposal facilities. There are also significant cost savings to be realized from segregating clean and exempt material from material classified as low-level (radioactive) waste (LLW) for disposal in other (nonradioactive) facilities or preferably for recycling onsite as part of the site closure process. The use of a proven dynamic measurement and soil sorting technology has the potential to speed up site closure, reduce LLW volumes, and save the decommissioning programs significant costs. Conveyor-based, radiological soil measurement systems developed have been used to process bulk soils with the potential to be contaminated with radioactivity, segregating soils that exceed the accepted regulatory limits from those that could be reused onsite or otherwise disposed in non-radioactive disposal facilities. This paper will describe the operation and advanced capabilities of MACTEC's state-of-the-science bulk soil survey and sorting system developed and successfully used in the USA