Considerations Affecting Deep-well Disposal of Tritium-bearing Low-level Aqueous Waste from Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plants

Considerations Affecting Deep-well Disposal of Tritium-bearing Low-level Aqueous Waste from Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plants
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 1977
Genre:
ISBN:

Present concepts of disposal of low-level aqueous wastes (LLAW) that contain much of the fission-product tritium from light water reactors involve dispersal to the atmosphere or to surface streams at fuel reprocessing plants. These concepts have been challenged in recent years. Deep-well injection of low-level aqueous wastes, an alternative to biospheric dispersal, is the subject of this presentation. Many factors must be considered in assessing its feasibility, including technology, costs, environmental impact, legal and regulatory constraints, and siting. Examination of these factors indicates that the technology of deep-well injection, extensively developed for other industrial wastes, would require little innovation before application to low-level aqueous wastes. Costs would be low, of the order of magnitude of 10/sup -4/ mill/kWh. The environmental impact of normal deep-well disposal would be small, compared with dispersal to the atmosphere or to surface streams; abnormal operation would not be expected to produce catastrophic results. Geologically suitable sites are abundant in the U.S., but a well would best be co-located with the fuel-reprocessing plant where the LLAW is produced. Legal and regulatory constraints now being developed will be the most important determinants of the feasibility of applying the method.

Safe Handling of Tritium

Safe Handling of Tritium
Author: International Atomic Energy Agency
Publisher:
Total Pages: 148
Release: 1991
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

This publication contains information on the dosimetry and monitoring of tritium, the use of protective clothing for work with tritium, safe practices in tritium handling laboratories and details of tritium compatible materials. The information has been compiled from experience in the various applications of tritium and should represent valuable source material to all users of tritium, including those involved in fusion R&D.

Tank Waste Retrieval, Processing, and On-site Disposal at Three Department of Energy Sites

Tank Waste Retrieval, Processing, and On-site Disposal at Three Department of Energy Sites
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2006-09-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309180147

DOE Tank Waste: How clean is clean enough? The U.S. Congress asked the National Academies to evaluate the Department of Energy's (DOE's) plans for cleaning up defense-related radioactive wastes stored in underground tanks at three sites: the Hanford Site in Washington State, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, and the Idaho National Laboratory. DOE plans to remove the waste from the tanks, separate out high-level radioactive waste to be shipped to an off-site geological repository, and dispose of the remaining lower-activity waste onsite. The report concludes that DOE's overall plan is workable, but some important challenges must be overcomeâ€"including the removal of residual waste from some tanks, especially at Hanford and Savannah River. The report recommends that DOE pursue a more risk-informed, consistent, participatory, and transparent for making decisions about how much waste to retrieve from tanks and how much to dispose of onsite. The report offers several other detailed recommendations to improve the technical soundness of DOE's tank cleanup plans.

Strategy and Methodology for Radioactive Waste Characterization

Strategy and Methodology for Radioactive Waste Characterization
Author: International Atomic Energy Agency
Publisher: IAEA
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2007
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Over the past decade significant progress has been achieved in the development of waste characterization and control procedures and equipment as a direct response to ever-increasing requirements for quality and reliability of information on waste characteristics. Failure in control procedures at any step can have important, adverse consequences and may result in producing waste packages which are not compliant with the waste acceptance criteria for disposal, thereby adversely impacting the repository. The information and guidance included in this publication corresponds to recent achievements and reflects the optimum approaches, thereby reducing the potential for error and enhancing the quality of the end product. -- Publisher's description.

Safety in Tritium Handling Technology

Safety in Tritium Handling Technology
Author: F. Mannone
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9401119104

The use of tritium as a basic fuel material in a thermonuclear fusion reactor raises particular safety issues due to the combined effects of its physico chemical properties and radioactive nature. Furthermore the possibility of attaining further significant progresses in developing and demonstrating the feasibility of tritium burning devices relies on the handling of tritium macroquantities, say ten grammes, in a safe and reliable manner. It is also undoubted that, apart from technological constraints, any validation and exploitation of thermonuclear fusion as a source of energy will be strongly conditioned by the application of stringent operational and environmental safety criteria as it derives from norms of the modern legislation and public acceptance considerations. Even if the safe handling of tritium has already been demonstrated to be feasible on a full fuel cycle scale, it is unanimously recognized that further efforts are still to be concentrated on the improvement of current concepts and development of advanced technologies. Some of the areas requiring substantial additional efforts are plasma exhaust fuel c1ean-up, tritium pellet injection, processing of inert carrier gas, development of large free-oil pumps,tritlUm process analytics, development of large detritiation systems, beryllium-tritium interaction studies, tritium hold-up studies in getter beds, adsorbers and structural materials, tritium recovery from first wall, structural and breeder materials for minimizing tritiated waste arising,tritium storage technology, tritiated waste disposal technolo~y, methodology for routine tritium accountancy,etc . . Most of them are intrinsically related to the safety requirement of tritium technology.