Chemical Technology October 2016

Chemical Technology • October 2016

WASTE MANAGEMENT

This article focuses on the treatment of radioactive gaseous waste streams

arising from the operations in fuel fabrication facilities, nuclear power plants,

fuel reprocessing facilities and waste processing facilities. The extract from

the original report (details on page 13) provides the user with an overview of

the requirements for the management of radioactive gaseous waste.

ver the years the IAEA have issued a large number of

publications covering various technological solutions

in the area of pre-disposal management of radioac-

tive waste. The following eight technical topics were identi-

fied as sufficient to provide adequate technical support.

1. Pre-treatment of low and intermediate level waste;

2. Treatment of low and intermediate level liquid waste;

3. Treatment of low and intermediate level solid waste;

4. Treatment of radioactive gaseous waste;

5. Conditioning of low and intermediate level liquid,

solidified and solid waste;

6. Processing of high level waste and spent nuclear fuel

declared as waste;

7. Characterisation and monitoring of radioactive waste,

waste forms and waste packages, and

8. Storage of radioactive waste and conditioned waste

packages.

These handbooks serve as a basis for development of

training material required for technology transfer to the

IAEA Member States with less advanced nuclear programs.

Overview of the management of gaseous

waste with respect to public protection

The performance requirement for an off-gas system arises

from the process being operated and the gaseous products

that it emits. The demand for gaseous cleanup is deter-

mined by the limitations on discharging the contents of

the off-gas stream to the environment. These limitations

are related to legal requirements, regulatory controls and

any local restrictions. These restrictions will vary around the

world and a few are listed. See Table 1 [1].

In the SI system, a millisievert (mSv) is defined as “the

average accumulated background radiation dose to an

individual for 1 year, exclusive of radon.”

1mSv is the dose produced by exposure to 1milligray (mG)

of radiation). The whole-body exposure threshold for acute

Treatment of

radioactive gaseous waste