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Highlights for 2010

[See previous year's highlights by clicking links at bottom of page.]

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

September 15, 2010 - A three-year effort to repatriate almost 500 grams of plutonium sealed sources has successfully concluded. The sources arrived at LANL during the week of September 5. This effort completes the recovery of sources that LANL began examining in the late 1990s. OSRP and German colleagues are continuing to investigate one additional possible US-origin source that could not be identified due to over-encapsulation.

Off to China

September 15, 2010 - During August, a survey trip was conducted by OSRP in cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP). The team visited multiple irradiator and hospital sites with high-activity disused sources in the provinces of Hubei, Shaanxi, and Ningxia. Discussions and planning were conducted for a future technical exchange visit to a contaminated irradiator site requiring extensive decommissioning (source recovery and site cleanup).

Bang the Drum Slowly. . . OSRP Sets Record

September 15, 2010 - Since March 2010, the Off-Site Source Recovery Project (OSRP) has prepared 220 drums of transuranic sealed sources for disposition that were being held for possible recycling. To date in FY 2010, 290 OSR drums have been shipped to WIPP for permanent disposal, of which 191 are former “recycle” drums. This compares with OSRP's planning target of 50 drums per year; and is a record in OSRP's 10-year history. These efforts significantly reduce the inventory of OSRP containers in storage while supporting laboratory goals for its closure of the storage area.

Cost-Saving Kudos

April 21, 2010 - Kudos came from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors meeting about a recovery the LANL Off-Site Source Recovery team did last year of about 60 Ra-226 sources found in "a barn" in Missouri after the owner passed away. Without the LANL program involvement, the effort would have cost EPA hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The OSRP team ups its activity level

February 10, 2010 – Last month, OSRP completed its first recovery of a high-activity gamma device in more than a year from two different sites. This resulted in removal of more than 4,200 Ci of no-longer used sources from commercial facilities and garnered positive press coverage for the project in the New Jersey Star Ledger and Los Alamos Monitor newspapers, as well as in an NNSA press release. NNSA had experimented with other mechanisms to complete the work but returned it to Los Alamos when technical difficulties were encountered. OSRP also expects to conduct at least nine additional such recoveries during fiscal year 2010.

In addition, with the completion of a long-planned recovery from the Mediterranean, OSRP recovered its 500th sealed source from international locations. The material included U.S.-origin Pu-239/Be sealed sources that were shipped by boat due to U.S. restrictions on air transport of plutonium.

Press Releases & News Clippings for 2010

LANL Releases

None

DOE/NNSA Releases

NNSA Works With New York City to Counter Radiological Threats - NNSA News Release July 6, 2010

[Photos and video from this source recovery are available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEQzWFdgSus and https://www.flickr.com/photos/nnsanews/sets/72157624310077533/]

NNSA Recovers High-Activity Radioactive Sources from Warehouse 25 Miles from New York City - NNSA News Release January 14, 2010

Local, National, or International News Clippings

U.S. nuclear experts to the province and radiation protection for radiation safety inspection - Shaanxi Provincial Environmental Protection Department, August 2010.
Trabajo en equipo en el IPEN permite exitosa repatriación de fuentes selladas en desuso, de origen americano - Instituto Peruano de Energia 2 diciembre 2010
The National Nuclear Security Administration Works With New York City to Counter Radiological Threats - Nuclear Street July 07, 2010.
Nuclear Material Removed at Hospital - The Wall Street Journal (Online and Print) July 3, 2010
Radioactive material removed from closed NYC hospital unit - Newsday.com July 3, 2010
An Unending Mission to Contain the Stuff of Nuclear Nightmares - Science Magazine June 4, 2010 or HTML.
Tech Training Egyptian Scientists In Radiation Safety - New Mexico Tech Online May 7, 2010
Exclusive: Inside U.S. Mission to Secure Weapons-Grade Nuclear Material - ABC News/Nightline April 8, 2010 (includes video)
Rescuing a Potential Nuke from the Chile Quake - Time Magazine Online April 8, 2010
Lab trains African scientists: International program grows with civilian uses - Los Alamos Monitor February 5, 2010 or HTML.
Team bags another 3,000 curies: Off-site recovery reins in surplus radiation sources - Los Alamos Monitor January 22, 2010 or HTML.

Government Reports & News

None