WASTE STORAGE AND HANDLING
This system drains and collects, until safe for removal, all drainage from the reactor system that might be radioactive. Drainage may result from a leak, or be part of the normal drainage accumulation during initial fill and testing, normal startup, operation and shutdown, and decontamination.
The drainage and storage system consists of two pumps, valves, piping, containment drain tank, and four waste storage tanks. The total capacity of the tanks is 1,350 cubic feet. This is approximately 80 percent more than the maximum operational leakage and drainage for a 100-day period. Provisions are made to take samples from any of the five tanks at any time.
After sampling indicates sufficiently low level of activity, the fluid will be pumped to special dock facilities for transfer to inland waste disposal sites. No waste will be discharged at sea under present operating plans.
A special 129-foot vessel, the NSV ATOMIC SERVANT, will service the Savannah’s reactor and handle the radioactive wastes.
The majority of the potentially radioactive gases vent into a central manifold. Here they are monitored, diluted by fan-driven air and discharged up the radio mast after passing through a series of filters. During normal operation, the manifold is vented continuously. However, if the radiation monitor indicates activity levels too high for satisfactory dilution, the gases can be diverted into the containment shell.