Safety Aspects of Light Water Reactor Radwaste Solidification Processes

Abstract

Safety problems have been reported from existing radwaste solidification installations (unsetting, free water, decontamination difficulties, outage, etc.). Safety requirements to be applied to such processes are proposed, first from the standpoint of installation features and equipment (i.e., proven process, simplicity, equipment choice, remote decontamination, layout, remote control, backup means) and second, as regards the properties of the solidified end products. The “volume reduction” technique, which is now available on the market (four different types of processes are mentioned), offers appreciable safety improvements and important cost savings. Given figures (experimental and calculated) indicate that solidified end product volumes are reduced by a factor of 7 to 8.5 or more.