Remote Waste Disposal Tool Reduces Risk, Increases Efficiency at SRS

An operator holds a remote control that operates the remote release hook. The hook allows riggers to place low-level radioactive waste in a slit trench with less potential for contamination while reducing radiological dose exposure and eliminating fall protection risk.

AIKEN, S.C.- EMteam members at the Solid Waste Management Facility (SWMF) at the Savannah River Site(SRS) recently began using a new rigging hook they can release remotely to place low-level waste into trenches for disposal, saving time and reducing risks to workers.

"In the past, rigging and heavy equipment operators had to climb on the flatbed trailer that carried the low-level waste to manually attach the hook to the rigging, and then fish the rigging off the hook once it's been lowered into the trench," said SWMFManager Verne Mooneyhan of SRS managing and operating contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). "There is always the potential for contamination when working that closely with low-level waste, so we looked for a better way."

The remote release hook disengages from rigging after lowering low-level waste into a slit trench.

The answer came in the form of magnetic hooks that could attach to the rigging of the waste. A crane operator can remotely release the hook once the waste is placed in the trench. This prevents riggers from having to enter the trench to release the hook, saving time. The distance protects them from potential contamination as well.

"SRNS continues to improve our procedures and processes to ensure we are using the safest and most effective methods to get the job done," SRNS President and CEO Stuart MacVean said. "Any time we can reduce the hazards to our workers is a good day for our company."

Low-level waste includes items that have become contaminated with radioactive material or have become radioactive through exposure to radiation. At SRS, that waste is buried in engineered trenches, called slit trenches, in SWMF. That facility is responsible for the disposal of SRS's solid waste, which include sanitary, construction and demolition, hazardous, low-level radioactive and transuranic waste.