The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) deploys experts worldwide to collect data regarding the presence and composition of nuclear materials. During material collection missions, equipment used to assess radiological materials may become contaminated and rendered unusable—and replacing contaminated equipment can be costly. The NNSA has resolved to return as many of such items to operational use as possible without jeopardizing the health and safety of the professionals who use them.
Sandia’s Mission Equipment Radiological Decontamination Laboratory (MERDL) is a singular capability available to the entire NNSA complex. NNSA’s Nuclear Materials Verification (NMV) program ships equipment from nuclear and radiological facilities to MERDL, where it is received under appropriate protocols, subjected to radiological characterization measures, and, if necessary, decontaminated. Once MERDL processing is completed, the equipment is available for re-use and returned to its home organization.
Next door to MERDL sits the Mission Equipment Readiness Facility (MERF), where NMV Health & Safety Team (HST) equipment is stored, calibrated, and maintained in a high state of mission readiness for NMV events and deployments.
Facilities
Located on Kirtland Air Force Base in Sandia’s Tech Area III, MERDL and MERF reside within the perimeter of MAVERIC South compound. The laboratory, staging room, and office spaces are an integrated building constructed of five conjoined converted shipping containers.
MERDL Operations
- Stage 1: Field characterization. Before sending equipment to the facility, NMV HST members complete field surveys that provide MERDL workers the information needed to safely process it. MERDL works use a graded approach when determining hazards and controls for each unique work evolution.
- Stage 2: Characterization and decontamination. After receipt in the staging area, MERDL workers collaborate with radiation protection experts to apply a graded approach to determine the hazards and controls needed to safely characterize and decontaminate the equipment.
- Stage 3: Renegotiation and return. Once equipment has been processed through MERDL, items are properly prepared for shipment and returned to the appropriate equipment owner within the NNSA complex.
Contact
For more information about MERDL or MERF, contact Shavawn Bell-Jenkins.