Research and disposition of highly loaded organic resins

Among the radioactive wastes produced during the cleanup of Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island (TMI) Nuclear Power Station were 50 highly-loaded EPICOR-II liners, used to remove activation products from contaminated water. The EPICOR-II liners are being sent to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory where they are being placed in interim storage facilities and researched as special wastes. Development and evaluation of a special High-Integrity Container is also ongoing. The High-Integrity containers will make it possible to dispose of EPICOR-II liners at a commercial low-level waste facility. The research efforts include examining EPICOR-II liners to determine their integrity, solidifying EPICOR-II resins in cement and synthetic polymer, testing solidified EPICOR-II resins for compressibility and leachability, determining the degradation of EPICOR-II resins, and investigating the behavior of solidified EPICOR-II resin samples in soil environments.