Characterization

[Rennhack]

Lessons Learned: Characterization

The purpose of this forum is to document on-the-job work experiences. Submit your best solutions for various jobs and processes. This is not to be plant specific, rumor, slander or urban legend. Postings will be reviewed, verified, edited for content, and archived for future reference. Post a summary for review if you wish to post a thesis or position paper. We are getting fewer and fewer, but before the knowledge is lost forever and plant / sites reinvent the wheel; we need to document what we have learned.

[jocro]

While reclaiming buried waste drums, found a drum with a bulging top, which later exploded due to hydrogen buildup, in barely safe circumstances.  Not long after, a supervisor, testing to see if the drum gas vent on another bulging drum was working, went and pressed hard on it with his elbow to see if he could move the top.  Said the drum was safe.  SHALL be more careful, from my view.

[DecommMan]

You MUST spend the time to properly characterize before D&D (during the planning phases)otherwise you are just asking for trouble and don't even think about contracting the job out till you get a handle on whats there.  Several others have already made that point already here on the LL page already.

[SloGlo]

while working behind a scoping survey that was used to characterize a property was economically beneficial to me, i would not recommend that approach to anyone who was attempting to approach a decontamination project.  at least not to people who were intending to use that project as a means of furthering their career.  scoping has it's place, but it is not a characterization and should not be confused with the same.