Development of an inventory/archive program for the retention, management, and disposition of tank characterization samples at the 222-S laboratory

The Hanford Tank Waste Remediation Systems (TWRS) Characterization Program is responsible for coordinating the sampling and analysis of the 177 large underground storage tanks at the Hanford site. The 222-S laboratory has been the primary laboratory for chemical analysis of this highly-radioactive material and has been accumulating these samples for many years. As part of the Fiscal Year 1998 laboratory work scope, the 222-S laboratory has performed a formal physical inventory of all tank characterization samples which are currently being stored. In addition, an updated inventory/archive program has been designed. This program defines sample storage, retention, consolidation, maintenance, and disposition activities which will ensure that the sample integrity is preserved to the greatest practical extent. In addition, the new program provides for continued availability of waste material in a form which will be useful for future bench-scale studies. Finally, when the samples have exceeded their useful lifetime, the program provides for sample disposition from,the laboratory in a controlled, safe and environmentally compliant manner. The 222-S laboratory maintains custody over samples of tank waste material which have been shipped to the laboratory for chemical analysis. The storage of these samples currently requires an entire hotcell, fully dedicated to sample archive storage, and is rapidly encroaching on additional hotcell space. As additional samples are received, they are beginning to limit the 222-S laboratory hotcell utility for other activities such as sample extrusion and subsampling. The 222-S laboratory tracks the number of sample containers and the mass of each sample through an internal database which has recently been verified and updated via a physical inventory