Lockheed Idaho Technologies Company, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3521

A -- HYDROGEN GAS GETTER DUE 082399 POC Whitney St. Michel (208) 526-3206 E-MAIL: click here to contact Whitney St. Michel, whitney@inel.gov. Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company (LMITCO), the prime management and operating contractor for the Department of Energy (DOE)at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory is seeking information on commercially available hydrogen gas getter materials that may be used to solve a transuranic waste transportation problem. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) imposed a flammable (i.e. hydrogen, methane, etc.) gas concentration limit on contact-handled transuranic waste transported using the Transuranic Package Transporter, Model II (TRUPACT-II). This limit is set at the lower explosive limit of 5% by volume for hydrogen in air and must be complied with for a period of 60 days. Hydrogen gas generation and accumulation is the result of alpha radiolysis of hydrogenous waste and packaging materials coupled with the waste packaging configurations. The combination of high activity wastes with multiple layers of packaging results in significant quantities of wastes that do not meet thistransportation requirement. Payload expansion, to support the shipment of high activity wastes, drives the use of hydrogen gas getters in the TRUPACT-II. Hydrogen gas getters are solid materials that remove hydrogen from the gas phase and chemically binds it to the solid state. The application of hydrogen getter materials in the TRUPACT-II must be approved by the NRC prior to use. The DOE Carlsbad Area Office has responsibility for submitting this application. Potential issures/conditions that must be addressed in the NRC application for use of getters in the shipping package are identified and a set of hydrogen gas getters requirements developed for potential deployment locations. The getter can be located (deployed) within a drum (drum headspace, innermost bag layer, or drum lid/filter) or in the TRAUPACT-II inner containment vessel (ICV headspace or the spaces between the drum locations). These requirements are: 1) the getter performance must be effective in the presence of other gases also known to be present in TRU waste, 2) the getter must be chemically compatible with the TRUPACT-II payload and construction materials, 3) the minimum and maximum temperature and pressure conditions, under which the getter material must function, are -20 degrees F and +160 degrees F and 0 to 50 psig, 4) desorption of hydrogen from the getter during the shipping period is not acceptable, since it may potentially result in the hydrogen concentration exceeding the 5% limit, 5) capable of absorbing hydrogen at the following rate and time periods a) drum, 8.8 x 10 to the negative 7 power mol/sec with an operational life of 365 days and b) ICV, 1.2 x 10 negative 5 power mol/sec with an operational life of 60 days, and 6) only passive (no external energy sources applied) systems are acceptable. The LMITCO Mixed Waste Focus Area (MWFA) sponsored hydrogen gas getters evaluation program will identify potential hydrogen gas getter condidates, evaluate their performance related to the hydrogen gas getters requirements, and develop a getter development methodology for the TRUPACT-II. The objective of this program is not to develop new hydrogen gas getters materials, but to evaluate existing materials for their potential to address the transportation requirements. The MWFA desires information from interested parties having a hydrogen gas getter material that is commercially available and can potentially meet the requirements listed above. This is not an opportunity to provide goods or services to LMITCO or the Department of Energy. This Request for Interest will close to response, August 23, 1999. Interested parties need to provide a written letter of interest to Whitney St. Michel (whitney@inel.gov); Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company; 2525 N. Fremont Avenue; Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3875. Posted 08/05/99 (W-SN363777). (0217)

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