Decommissioning of NUKEM's Tritium Laboratory

A NUKEM tritium laboratory, operated for tritium target production and different types of research work since 1981, was shut down in 1989. After removal of all contaminated components and accompanying ventilation system, remaining building stuctures were decontaminated yielding the former laboratory free for unrestriced use. “Cold” dismantle techniques and “dry” decontamination methods were applied to cut down all inventory and to remove tritium activity which had penetrated into room structures. Relatively high tritium contamination was found in several plastic materials exposed to tritium atmosphere over the long operation time. Primary and secondary waste amount was considerably high due to licence and local restrictions.