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.

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.

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.

Management of Waste Containing Tritium and Carbon-14

Management of Waste Containing Tritium and Carbon-14
Author: International Atomic Energy Agency
Publisher:
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2004
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

This report reviews and analyses experience in the application of different organizational and technological approaches to the management of waste containing C-14 and tritium, and reviews the different sources of such waste and the characteristics important in the selection of appropriate methods for its processing, storage, disposal and release.

Tritium Waste Treatment System Component Failure Data Analysis from June 18, 1984--December 31, 1989

Tritium Waste Treatment System Component Failure Data Analysis from June 18, 1984--December 31, 1989
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 62
Release: 1990
Genre:
ISBN:

This document gives the failure rates for the major tritium-bearing components in the Tritium Waste Treatment System at the Tritium Systems Test Assembly, which is a fusion research and technology facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The failure reports, component populations, and operating demands/hours are given in this report, and sample calculations for binomial demand failure rates and poisson hourly failure rates are given in the appendices. The failure rates for tritium-bearing components were on the order of the screening failure rate values suggested for fusion reliability and risk analyses. More effort should be directed toward collecting and analyzing fusion component failure data, since accurate failure rates are necessary to refine reliability and risk analyses. 15 refs., 4 figs., 4 tabs.

Tritium storage development

Tritium storage development
Author: Brookhaven National Laboratory. Nuclear Waste Management Research Group
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 1977
Genre: Radioactive waste disposal
ISBN: