JANUS characterization report

The JANUS Reactor was operated from 1965 to 1992. All of the fuel was removed and shipped offsite in 1993. To provide information for use in finalizing the planning for the decommissioning of the reactor, the Health Physics Section of Argonne National Laboratory performed a characterization of the facility in January and February 1996. The characterization included measurements for radioactivity, hazardous materials, lead in wall paint, and asbestos. Measurements and smear samples for surface contamination were collected from every wall, ceiling and floor of the facility. Samples to determine activity concentrations were collected from vertical and horizontal corings into the reactor shield and foundation, and from coring into walls of the high dose and low dose rooms. Soil samples were collected outdoors from two drill holes, one south and one north of the JANUS exhaust stack. The predominant radionuclides detected were {sup 60}Co, {sup 152}Eu, and {sup 154}Eu. The highest exposure rate was 175 mR/h at the center of the reactor core. No hazardous materials were found in pits or sumps. There are 20 identified areas with asbestos and 7 objects with lead based paint