| Rigid Drum Liners are used to line the drums that contain transuranic waste. Transuranic waste is material that is contaminated with U-233 (and its daughter products), certain isotopes of plutonium, and nuclides with atomic numbers greater than 92 (uranium). It is produced during the reprocessing of spent fuel to separate plutonium for use in fabrication of nuclear weapons. Their radioactivity levels are generally low, but since they contain several long-lived isotopes, they must be managed separately. Transuranic wastes give off very little heat, and most can be handled by ordinary methods not requiring remote control. For many years they were buried in shallow trenches, but since 1970 they have been placed in retrievable storage in large storage pools usually at the plant. |
