Automated nuclear material recovery and decontamination of large steel dynamic experiment containers

A key mission of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is to reduce the global nuclear danger through stockpile stewardship efforts that ensure the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons. In support of this mission LANL performs dynamic experiments on special nuclear materials (SNM) within large steel containers. Once these experiments are complete, these containers must be processed to recover residual SNM and to decontaminate the containers to below low level waste (LLW) disposal limits which are much less restrictive for disposal purposes than transuranic (TRU) waste limits. The purpose of this paper is to describe automation efforts being developed by LANL for improving the efficiency, increasing worker safety, and reducing worker exposure during the material cleanout and recovery activities performed on these containers.