3Bears staff team managed a pilot project at the Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) to determine the efficacy of using multiple measurement
methodologies to re-classify TRU drums as LLMW, in cases where the original characterization processes indicated measurement
improvements were achievable. This was a coordinated effort using a Canberra Industries segmented gamma scanner combined with passive
drum imaging. Although the results of the pilot project were indeterminate for the small drum population, the concept of the approach was
promising. This technology has been discussed at the planning level in several other DOE legacy waste management characterization projects.
In the same time-period, our people, working with MarCom, developed a unique measurement system designed to allow an operator to
quantify Cs-137 and Co-60 activities in irradiated fuel waste containers within a hot cell. The system, including a detector, portable shield,
electronics, and remote-control panel was assembled and calibrated on-site. When the system is commissioned, operators will be able to
selectively package waste containers such that drum loading remains within the specified limits for the packaging, thus reducing the
occurrence of repackaging non-compliant drums. Specifically, this system differentiates the high-energy gamma activities associated with
activation and fission products, so that the operator(s) may differentiate populations of material as either RH TRU or RH LLW.