DECOMMISSIONING THE BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY BUILDING 830 GAMMA IRRADIATION FACILITY.

The Building 830 Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) was decommissioned because its design was not in compliance with current hazardous tank standards and its cobalt-60 sources were approaching the end of their useful life. The facility contained 354 stainless steel encapsulated cobalt-60 sources in a pool, which provided shielding. Total cobalt-60 inventory amounted to 24,000 Curies when the sources were shipped for disposal. The decommissioning project included packaging, transport, and disposal of the sources and dismantling and disposing of all other equipment associated with the facility. Worker exposure was a major concern in planning for the packaging and disposal of the sources. These activities were planned carefully according to ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) principles. As a result, the actual occupational exposures experienced during the work were within the planned levels. Disposal of the pool water required addressing environmental concerns, since the planned method was to discharge the slightly contaminated water to the BNL sewage treatment plant. After the BNL evaluation procedure for discharge to the sewage treatment plant was revised and reviewed by regulators and BNL's Community Advisory Council, the pool water was discharged to the Building 830 sanitary system. Because the sources were sealed and the pool water contamination levels were low, most of the remaining equipment was not contaminated; therefore disposal was straightforward, as scrap metal and construction debris