Employees move processed material to a shipping cask for permanent disposal offsite. Since processing began in the U-233 Disposition Project, Isotek has shipped approximately 350,000 pounds of waste for disposal.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor Isotek achieved a 2024 priority for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) while also crossing another major milestone in the highest priority cleanup project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
OREM and Isotek surpassed EM’s goal of processing 35 canisters of uranium (U)-233 in 2024. They have processed 39 canisters so far this year, bringing the total to 100 canisters processed as part of the U-233 Disposition Project.
The project is focused on eliminating the inventory of U-233 stored in the world’s oldest operating nuclear facility, located at ORNL. That material presents risks and is costly to keep safe and secure. Originally created in the 1950s and 1960s for potential use in reactors, U-233 proved to be an unviable fuel source.
“Getting to this point has taken a lot of hard work,” said Sarah Schaefer, Isotek president and project manager. “Each canister can present its own unique challenges, but the people at Isotek always figure it out and keep us moving forward.”
Half of the U-233 inventory was disposed of between 2011 and 2017; however, the remaining material requires processing to convert it into a form safe for shipment and disposal.
Isotek began processing the lower-dose material in 2019 and higher-dose material in 2022. The current processing campaign for the higher-dose material is 25% complete and slated for completion in 2026.
Isotek has shipped approximately 350,000 pounds of waste for disposal since processing began in the U-233 Disposition Project.
As Isotek progresses through the remaining inventory, the contents of the canisters will present more challenges, such as a higher radiation dose or more difficulty in opening the canisters.
“Isotek has already designed and tested the equipment needed to process the next type of U-233, and we intend to begin processing it before the end of this year,” said Schaefer.
Additionally, an agreement with TerraPower allows Isotek to extract thorium-229, an extremely rare isotope, from the material before it is processed and disposed of.
Isotek extracts the thorium-229 before it’s shipped to TerraPower. The company uses that extracted material to recover actinium-225, a medical isotope critical to a promising form of next generation cancer treatment called targeted alpha therapy.
Earlier this year, TerraPower announced it distributed the first samples of actinium-225 to two pharmaceutical companies to support the development of the revolutionary cancer treatment.
Once all thorium-229 has been extracted over the next four years during the remainder of the U-233 Disposition Project — an estimated 40 grams — 100 times more doses of next generation cancer treatments will be available annually than are currently available worldwide.
Global demand for actinium-225 is expected to increase as more treatments are developed, making the work performed by OREM and Isotek more vital and impactful.
-Contributor: John Gray
-Source: EM Update Newsletter