Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies: Pentek Scores High in Scoping Tests

With the shift in mission due to the cessation of reprocessing activities, maintenance decontamination at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory’s Chemical Processing Plant (ICCP) gave way to full decommissioning. As a result, ICPP’s contractor, Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies (LMIT), sought safer, more efficient removal methodologies that could decontaminate concrete to higher levels of cleanliness while also reducing secondary waste generation.

ICPP conducted a scoping study on contaminated concrete samples to test the dry mechanical method embodied by the Pentek system. Pentek technicians were called upon to clean 24 square feet (2 M²) of radioactively contaminated concrete lids. Study goals were to achieve no airborne contamination, no toxic chemicals, no liquid wastes, and capability to decon the bulk concrete for free-release.

Pentek’s all-mechanical system removed 1/8-inch (3mm) of concrete from the entire lid surface in a little under an hour using a single operator. According to the final report, Concrete Decontamination S coping Tests, “The VAC-PAC® system was dustless. The dust and debris created by the [Corner-Cutter®] needle scalers and SQUIRREL® scabblers were captured by shrouds covering the tool surface and then transported through a vacuum hose by a VAC-PAC® HEPA filtered vacuum and waste packaging system…The entire system was very flexible and easy to operate.” The report continued: “The system generated very little waste; the lid surface after cleaning was level and did not have any peaks or valleys.”

“Worth mentioning is the ease in decontaminating the stainless steel equipment following project completion,” added Decon Development Engineer Kip Archibald. The report concludes that Pentek’s dry scabbling is a safe and effective technique for the removal of contaminated concrete. ICPP followed through with the subsequent purchase of two Pentek systems.

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Reprinted from Pentek Ink, Vol 11