Plutonium Immobilization Can Inspection System

The Savannah River Site (SRS) will immobilize excess plutonium in the proposed Plutonium Immobilization Plant (PIP) as part of Department of Energy's two-track approach for the disposition of weapons-usable plutonium. The PIP will utilize the ceramic can-in-canister technology in a process that mixes plutonium with ceramic formers and neutron absorbers, presses the mixture into a ceramic puck-like form, sinters the pucks in a furnace, loads the pucks into cans, and places the cans into large canisters. The canisters will subsequently be filled with high level waste glass in the Defense Waste Processing Facility for eventual disposal in a geologic repository. This paper will discuss the PIP can inspection components, control system, and test results