The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor Isotek achieved a 2024 priority for the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) in the highest priority cleanup project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
The project is focused on eliminating the inventory of Uranium-233 (U-233) stored at ORNL. The material presents risks and is costly to keep safe and secure. U-233 was originally created in the 1950s and 1960s for potential use in reactors but proved to be an unviable fuel source.
OREM and Isotek surpassed EM’s goal of processing 35 canisters of U-233 in 2024. They have processed 39 canisters so far this year, bringing the total to 100 canisters processed as part of the U-233 Disposition Project.
Half of the U-233 inventory was disposed of between 2011 and 2017; however, the remaining material requires processing to convert it into a form safe for shipment and disposal.
“Getting to this point has taken a lot of hard work,” said Sarah Schaefer, Isotek President & Project Manager. “Each canister can present its own unique challenges, but the people at Isotek always figure it out and keep us moving forward.”
Isotek began processing the lower-dose material in 2019 and higher-dose material in 2022. The current processing campaign for the higher-dose material is 25% complete and slated for completion in 2026. Isotek employees are processing the higher-dose uranium-233 in hot cells into a form safe for shipment and disposal.
Isotek has shipped approximately 350,000 pounds of waste for disposal since processing began in the U-233 Disposition Project.As Isotek progresses through the remaining inventory, the contents of the canisters will present more challenges, such as a higher radiation dose or more difficulty in opening the canisters.
“Isotek has already designed and tested the equipment needed to process the next type of U-233, and we intend to begin processing it before the end of this year,” said Schaefer.
Additionally, an agreement with TerraPower allows Isotek to extract thorium-229, an extremely rare isotope, from the material before it is processed for disposal. Isotek extracts the thorium-229 before shipping it to TerraPower, which uses the material to recover actinium-225, a medical isotope critical to targeted alpha therapy, a promising form of cancer treatment. Earlier this year, TerraPower announced it distributed the first samples of actinium-225 to two pharmaceutical companies to support the development of this treatment.
