ABSTRACT
The elements of greatest interest within the actinide series are those with atomic numbers greater than 92, which are called transuranic (TRU) elements. TRU waste is defined in the United States as radwaste that is not classified as high-level waste but contains an activity of more than 100 nCi/g from alpha-emitting TRU isotopes with half-lives greater than 20 years. The principal sources of TRU are fuel reprocessing and waste immobilization facilities, fuel fabrication for recycle of plutonium, weapons material production, and decommissioning of nuclear reactors or fuel cycle facilities. An accurate assessment of the buried volumes of TRU waste at the Department of Energy (DOE) sites is difficult because early burial practices were not governed by the requirement for identification and segregation. Between the early 1970s and 1999 TRU waste was stored for later retrieval and disposal. Before 1970, transuranic waste was buried on-site in shallow DOE landfills.
