Waste Storage Monitoring
Inventory + Integrity + Radiation Monitoring
Waste storage monitoring is an instrumentation suite that tracks waste inventory, canister integrity, environmental conditions, and radiation levels to detect leaks in lunar storage vaults. Operating at 10 watts with a total mass of 3 kilograms, the system uses 20 sensors—including RFID readers, capacitive pressure sensors, and Geiger-Müller tubes—to track up to 200 canisters. Meeting the 100-year waste retention requirement demands radiation-tolerant electronics and self-testing monitoring paths, supporting a 25-year operational lifetime and a mean time between failures of 200,000 hours.
Monitoring suite tracking waste inventory, container integrity, radiation levels, and any leak/seepage in storage areas.
Purpose
Monitoring suite tracking waste inventory, container integrity, radiation levels, and any leak/seepage in storage areas.
Context
Child of L2-WMS-STOR within the Lunar Ark system
Principles
- ▸RFID inventory tracking per canister
- ▸Integrity monitoring via pressure/leak sensors on hazardous canisters
- ▸Radiation survey via GM tubes at vault entry points
- ▸Environmental (T, humidity) monitoring
- ▸Historical archival to L1-DVT
Typical implementations
- ▸WIPP monitoring systems (terrestrial)
- ▸Spacecraft inventory management
- ▸Industrial hazmat tracking
Lunar considerations
- ▸100-year retention requires durable monitoring
- ▸Rad-tolerant electronics
- ▸Self-test of monitoring path
Specifications
Functional
| primary function | Monitoring suite tracking waste inventory, container integrity, radiation levels, and any leak/seepage in storage areas. |
| canisters tracked | 200 |
| sensors | 20 |
Physical
| mass kg | 3 |
| materials | RFID readers, Capacitive pressure sensors, GM tubes |
| vacuum compatibility | True |
Operational
| power consumption w | 10 |
| thermal range c | -40, 70 |
| lifetime years | 25 |
| mtbf hours | 200000 |
Interfaces
Provides
- Waste inventory + alerts
- Historical archive
Requires
- Sensor mounting taps
- Sensor power (~10 W)
Cite this entry
Lunar Ark Codex. "Waste Storage Monitoring" (L3-WMS-STOR-MON). Retrieved 10 September 2026, from https://lunarark.com/entry/L3-WMS-STOR-MON
Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may reuse and adapt this entry with attribution, under the same licence.