radium sources

[jshaffne@americanecology.com]

US Ecology is undertaking a performance assessment to evaluate health 
and safety implications of the disposal of encapsulated discrete 
radium sources at its Richland, WA LLRW disposal facility. We are 
looking for any data, reports or studies on radon flux as a function 
of radium source, size, fabricarion and packaging.
The current activity limit for individual encapsulated radium sources 
(~49.5 mCi) is based on a maximum allowable  Class C concentration of 
100 nCi/gm averaged over 500Kg of structural concrete in a 55 gallon 
drum. These restrictions are based on NRC guidance on concentration 
averaging of encapsul;ated sources.
The proposed performance assesssment is being performed to confirm 
that current packaging and stabilization methods are sufficient to 
allow for encapsulation of higher activity sources (> 50mCi) in 
larger containers and still adhere to regulatory requirements for 
Class C waste disposal
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