A statistical review of the oxygen data from the gas generation tests supporting the revision of the 9975 SARP

The Chemical and Hydrogen Technology Section (CHT) of the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) has conducted a series of gas generation tests in support of the revision of the safety analysis report for packaging (SARP) for the 9975 container, developed at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The Packaging and Transportation Group of SRTC is coordinating the revision to this SARP. A Task Technical and Quality Assurance Plan directing this work was issued by CHT in February 1999. Initially, the primary interest in this testing was hydrogen generation. From these ``gas generation tests can be tracked in real-time by measuring the pressure of a sealed container of the materials being studied. Because multiple gas phase reactions are produced in the radiation field of the sample, material pressure measurements do not necessarily define the quantity of H{sub 2} generated. However, the change in total molecules of gas can be calculated using the ideal gas law from the pressure measurement, known container volume and sample temperature. A measurement of the actual headspace gases must be completed to calculate the H{sub 2} generation rate for a particular sample.'' As the results from these tests were reviewed, however, questions arose regarding the oxygen in the headspace gases. Specifically, do the data from some tests indicate that oxygen was generated for those tests? And do the data for other tests indicate that the oxygen was depleted for them? A statistical analysis of the oxygen data derived from these tests is provided in this report to help answer these questions