Project Highlights
Survey Projects
ORAU Performs K-25 Nondestructive Assay Program Review and Verification (pdf)
At the request of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), ORAU health physics experts performed independent reviews and data validation for the Nondestructive Assay Program (NDA) at the K-25 site.
ORAU Facilitates Closure of Four Major Department of Energy Sites in Ohio (pdf)
ORAU performed independent verification surveys of numerous process buildings, support facilities, and hundreds of
acres of open-land areas
to facilitate the closure of the Battelle Columbus Operations
Decommissioning Project, the Ashtabula Closure Project, the Fernald Closure
Project, and the Miamisburg (Mound) Closure Project.
ORAU Performs Verification Surveys on Over 4.9 Million Square Feet of Facilities at East Tennessee Technology Park (pdf)
ORAU's efforts helped to confirm that the cleanup contractor's data quality objectives and reporting met strict release criteria. The Oak Ridge, Tenn., facility previously housed three World War II-era gaseous diffusion plants. It is one of the largest reindustrialization projects in the country.
ORAU Supports Curtis Bay Depot Decontamination and Decommissioning Project (pdf)
As the Defense National Stockpile Center prepares the Curtis Bay Depot for closure, the agency turned to ORAU for health physics and radiological survey support. This included a Decommissioning/Remediation
Plan that provided the
framework for all decommissioning activities.
ORAU Conducts Independent Confirmatory Surveys at Three Nuclear Regulatory Commission Reactor Sites (pdf)
ORAU's survey activities provided independent contractor field data reviews and generated independent radiological data. The NRC then used this information to evaluate the adequacy and accuracy of the licensee's procedures and final status survey results.
ORAU Partners with Argonne National Lab to Maintain Decontamination and Decommissioning Science Consortium Web Site (pdf)
As leaders in the field of D&D, ORAU supports the DDSC Web site as a way to keep professionals stay abreast of the latest technical information. The site also provides
a launching point for the growing number of regulators and professionals
newly assigned to the complex field of decommissioning.
Former Rocky Flats Nuclear Site Returns to Its Roots with Help from ORAU (pdf)
ORAU's staff of qualified radiation safety professionals were instrumental in the verification of the Rocky Flats site, once considered the most contaminated nuclear facility in the United States.
ORAU Lab Flooded with Groundwater Samples After Leaks Discovered at Nuclear Power Plants
Samples poured into ORAU's radiochemistry laboratory as personnel worked to determine whether heightened tritium levels in groundwater could pose a threat to civilian water supplies.
Health Physics
ORAU Performs Beryllium Contamination Assessment for Building 9201-2 at Y-12 National Security Complex (pdf)
ORAU assessed Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) compliance with 10 CFR 850, Chronic Beryllium Disease Prevention Program (CBDPP), at Building 9201-2, which is managed by ORNL and located at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Y-12 National Security Complex.
ORAU Assists NRC Regulatory Guide Update Program (pdf)
ORAU provided technical assistance to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) with revisions to regulatory guides included in phase three of the NRC’s Regulatory Guide Update Program.
Popular COMPASS Software Upgraded (pdf)
Version 1.1 is now available to facilitate the use of MARSSIM and guide users into making informed decisions in designing final status radiological surveys. COMPASS simplifies the data quality objectives and data quality assessment processes and assists in application of the appropriate statistical tests.
ORAU Develops Derived Concentration Guideline Levels (DCGLs) for Defense National Stockpile Center (DNSC) (pdf)
The DNSC had historically stored vast quantities of stockpiled ores, some of which contained trace amounts of radioactivity. ORAU developed cleanup levels for soil and surface contamination, called DCGLs, that satisfied U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission dose-based release requirements for license termination at the DNSC’s Curtis Bay (Md.) and Hammond (Ind.) Depots.
ORAU Evaluates Effectiveness of In Situ Gamma Spectrometry as Final Status Survey Tool (pdf)
ORAU's experts looked at the effectiveness of the In Situ Object Counting System (ISOCS) in achieving stated Data Quality Objectives to support releasing facility excavations and open land areas. ORAU assessed the ISOCS’ calibration, data acquisition, effects of topography, effects of background, and the modeling assumptions selected to satisfy allowable criteria as defined by MARSSIM.
ORAU Prepares Technical Evaluation Reports for NRC (pdf)
To
ensure a safe and efficient transition from operations to decommissioning, ORAU has prepared three TERs in support of licensing reviews for the decommissioning of research and test reactors. These reviews verified that all applicable license requirements were appropriately implemented during decommissioning activities.
ORAU Assesses Radiological Doses from Radium-Dial Timepieces (pdf)
The NRC asked ORAU to model the radiological doses to individuals who may be exposed to radium timepieces under a variety of situations. ORAU’s report provided critical information as to whether proposed regulations would adequately protect the public from any associated health and safety risks.
ORAU Delivers Training in Support of Homeland Security Initiatives (pdf)
While ORAU has conducted laboratory-based health physics training for approximately 60 years, more recently special emphasis training has also been conducted worldwide to support homeland
security and international radiological threat reduction.
ORAU Resolves Conflicting Dose Assessments for Vermont Department of Health (pdf)
ORAU's health physicists worked with the client to determine how and why officials at Vermont
Yankee Nuclear Power Station and the state recorded conflicting radiation
measurements at the plant’s fence line. ORAU specifically worked to
determine the best method of monitoring the dose at the fence line
around Vermont Yankee.
ORAU Helps to Put Surplus Radiological Detection Equipment in Emergency Responders Hands Nationwide (pdf)
Through the cooperative efforts of the Homeland Defense Equipment Reuse (HDER) Program, ORAU employees have been instrumental in getting the U.S. Department of Energy's surplus radiation detection equipment assembled, evaluated, and delivered to first responders across the nation. ORAU also developed a training CD to accompany the equipment.
ORAU Instrumental in Development of ANSI N42.37 (pdf)
With repuations as experts in health physics training and instrumentation, ORAU's staff were key members of the team to develop a standard for training
law enforcement, private sector security personnel,
members of the U.S. Postal Service, and private shippers in radiation detection and related equipment.
