ML20248F274
| ML20248F274 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 10/03/1989 |
| From: | Roles G NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | Bell M NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20248F277 | List: |
| References | |
| REF-WM-3 NUDOCS 8910060318 | |
| Download: ML20248F274 (1) | |
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1A ACNW Yes / / No /x/ l SUBJECT ABSTRACT:- TRANSURANIC SEALED SOUR MANUFACTURED BY MONSANTO L MEMORANDUM FOR: Michael J. Bell, Chief OCT 0 31989 Regulatory Branch Division of Low-Level Waste Management and Decommissioning j i
THROUGH: Timothy C. Johnson, Section Leader )
Regulatory Branch Division of Low-Level Waste Management 4
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g' and Decommissioning FROM: G.W. Roles F Regulatory Branch Division of Low-Level Waste Management and Decommissioning L
SUBJECT:
TRANSURANIC SEALED SOURCES MANUFACTURED BY MONSANTO l i
The enclosed document presents nty analysis of transuranic sealed sources f r manufactured by the Monsanto Research Corporation.
From 1962 through, 1984, Monscnto was one of the major manufacturers and distributors of large transuranic sources. Given this, we photocopied and analyzed Monsanto's manufacturing and sales records, to better understand the distr'ibution of transuranic sources exceeding NRC's Part 61 Class C limits j (GTCC sources). These records indicate that over half of Monsanto's sales were to well-logging customers, and 94% of the well-logging sales were to .
E Schlumberger. Of the 11,604 transuranic sources manufactured by Monsanto, 74%
were Am-241 sources, 9% were Pu-238 sources, and 9% were Pu-239 sources. About 71% of all transuranic sources were GTCC sources. Assuming that Monsanto I represented 70% of the commercial transuranic industry, this implies manufacture of about 11,800 GTCC transuranic sources by all commercial entities from 1962 through 1984. A more precise estimate could be made by analyzing Monsanto's shipment records.
If you have questions, I can be reached at extension 20595. !
Odginal signed by G.W. Roles s9100,'. Regulatory Branch j- so100gMkeE ppC Division of Low-Level Waste Management h3 and Decommissioning
Enclosure:
Monsanto report.
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DATEf/h/b9 k/h/89 j OFFICIAL RECORD COPY f t/m .3 i 1 _____ - _- ._ _ M d: AckW altar i
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1 I
TRANSURANIC SEALED SOURCES MANUFACTURED BY MONSANTO RESEARCH CORPORATION G.W. Roles Division of Low-Level Waste Management e.nd Decommissioning Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards September 1989 1:
I. INTRODUCTION The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 (Araendments Act)
L stipulates that disposal of low-level waste (LLW) exceeding Class C L
i concentrations as defined in 10 CFR Part 61 is the responsibility of the federal government. Disposal of some of this greater-than-Class C (GTCC) waste l must be in a facility licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). To help make decisions about GTCC waste management, NRC must estimate the
. quantities of GTCC waste that will be generated. This is particularly difficult for GTCC sealed sources owned by commercial and some government licensees.
Sealed sources are small capsules of radioactive material used for a variety of industrial, laboratory, and medical applications. Roughly 200 radioisotopes, mostly short-lived, have been used in sealed sources, which can range in activity from a few microcuries to several thousand curies. Of the hundreds of thousands of sealed sources that have been manufactured and distributed, a few tens of thousands contain radionuclides in sufficient quantities that, if disposed, would be considered GTCC sources. Such GTCC sources are dominated by sources containing Am-241 or other long-lived transuranic isotopes in quantities exceeding about 30 mil 11 curies.
From 1962 to 1984, one of the major manufacturers and distributors of large transuranic sources was the Monsanto Research Corporation. Although no longer manufacturing and distributing sealed sources, when in business Monsanto fabricated thousands of americium, plutonium, californium, and neptunium sources. In a February 1985 letter to NRC, Mr. Harold Coleman, a former Monsanto manager, estimated that Monsanto distributed about 9,200 transuranic sources. He also estimated that Monsanto controlled about 70% of the market for sources containing transuranic isotopes. This letter, plus a record of a March 1989 telephone conversation with Mr. Coleman, is included as Appendix A.
Given this information, we decided to analyze Monsanto's manufacturing and shipment records. From this analysis, we believed that we coulo better understand the numbers and sizes of GTCC transuranic sources in circulation.
I
I. PROCEDURE
S On June 30, 1989, we visited Monsanto's Dayton, Ohio facility to review and photocopy manufacturing, sales, and shipment records. The slow speed of the 99i0060322 WASTE 891003 PDR FK WM-3
3 We responded to these uncertainties by making conservative assumptions. If the logs provided no information about the sizes of particular types of sources, we assumed that the sources were GTCC. If the logs were vague about delivery of sources to foreign entities, we assumed that the sources remained in the United States. If the logs were vague about delivery of the sources to government facilities, particularly Department of Energy (DOE) facilities, we assumed that the sources were used for commercial applications. These assumptions tend to increase the calculated numbers of sources delivered to commercial customers located in the United States.
III. RESULTS Results are presented for our analysis of Monsanto's sales records and manufacturing logs.
Sales Records Table 1 summarizes Monsanto sales from 1970 through 1983. During these years, 52% of Monsanto's sales (in dollars) were to well-logging customers. Another 19% of the sales were to domestic manufacturers of nuclear reactors. Nine percent of the sales were to foreign governments or companies, including KWU.
The remaining 20% of the sales were distributed about as follows: gauging --
5%, medical -- 2%, instruments -- 2%, government -- 3%, smoke detectors --
0.01%, and miscellaneous -- 9%.
Table 2 sumarizes sales to well-logging customers so identified in Monsanto's records (seeAppendixC). Nearly 94% of the well-logging sales were to S @ lumberger, nearly 2% to Halliburton, and nearly 1% to Seismograph. The remaining 3% of the well-logging sales were to 12 customers, none accounting j for more than 0.6% of the total well-logging sales.
I Manufacturing Logs Table 3 is a summary of the numbers of sources containing transuranic isotopes.
Three-quarters of the 11,604 transuranic sources are Am-241 sources; Pu-238 and Pu-239 each represent about 9% of the transuranic sources. Table 3 also quantifies sources containing nickel, strontium, carbon, and cesium isotopes.
Although the logs didn't consistently identify the specific isotopes used, we conservatively assumed that the isotopes were generally those specifically listed in Tables 1 and 2 of 10 CFR Section 61.55 -- namely, Ni-63, Sr-90, C-14, and Cs-137. Finally, Ra-226 sources are listed.
We now present highlights of our analysis for each isotope.
Am-241 Sources. Am-241 gamma sources were sold to a large number of customers, who generally purchased only a few sources apiece. ORTEC, however, bought 963 sources, Harshaw Chemical Co. bought 205 sources, Industrial Nucleonics bought 233 sources, and Ohmart bought 192 sources. Because of the extensive duplication of serial numbers, we were uncertain about the actual number of
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