Cleanup of a Department of Energy Nonreactor Nuclear Facility: Experience at the Los Alamos National Laboratory High Pressure Tritium Laboratory

On October 25, 1990, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) ceased programmatic operations at the High Pressure Tritium Laboratory (HPTL). Since that time, LANL has been preparing the facility for transfer into the Department of Energy`s (DOE`s) Decontamination and Decommissioning Program. LANL staff now has considerable operational experience with the cleanup of a 40-year-old facility used exclusively to conduct experiments in the use of tritium, the radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Tritium and its compounds have permeated the HPTL structure and equipment, have affected operations and procedures, and now dominate efforts at cleanup and disposal. At the time of shutdown, the HPTL still had a tritium inventory of over 100 grams in a variety of forms and containers