A new facility at Paducah's Gaseous Diffusion Plant site will advance the process of deactivating and disposing of waste.
The Large Item Neutron Assay System, or LINAS, is a first-of-its-kind facility and will help in the preparation for the demolition of buildings on the site. LINAS will allow large pieces to be measured and screened for leftover uranium. The facility will speed up the decommissioning process.
The new LINAS system, like new robot technology at the site, is designed to keep workers from having to directly cut open items to be disposed of to take measurements to determine the amount of leftover uranium.
Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Manager Joel Bradburne said, "Nondestructive assay measurement is a critical part of the deactivation process at the site. The LINAS facility promises improved efficiency, resulting in increased productivity and long term-cost savings."
According to the Department of Energy, one building alone, the C-333 Process Building on the site, contains over 1,300 pieces of equipment that must be disposed of as part of decommissioning of the site.
(Photo courtesy of DOE and FRNP. From left, Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership (FRNP) Nondestructive Assay Field Operations Manager Tyler Coriell; Enterprise Technical Assistance Services Senior Nuclear Safety Engineer Allen Townsend; FRNP Nondestructive Assay Manager Rick Williams; and EM Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office Safety Systems Oversight Richard Mayer walk down the assembly of detectors in the Large Item Neutron Assay System chamber at the Paducah Site.)
