Сольовий плав як визначальний чинник розвитку системи кондиціонування рідких радіоактивних відходів

Abstract

The dynamics of annual generation of liquid and solid radioactive waste at Ukrainian nuclear power plants (NPPs) with WWER reactors standardized for electricity production is considered. It is established that in the last ten years the indicators of specific generation of radioactive waste do not show significant variations. The conclusion is made that the possibilities of implementing organizational and technical measures at the NPP in order to minimize the generation of radioactive waste have been exhausted. Further operation of WWER reactors will lead to a fairly stable level of radwaste generation, which provides grounds for forecasting the volume of their accumulation, planning and implementation of appropriate measures for their conditioning with subsequent transfer to landfill. Thus, the main goal of solid radioactive waste management at existing NPPs of Ukraine should be to create efficient solid radiant air conditioning lines using reference technologies. It is noted that the amendments to national regulations on the classification of radioactive waste and the assignment of salt melt to solid radioactive waste mean the abolition of the requirements for additional conditioning for the transfer of salt melt for disposal. In turn, this gives grounds for creating a simple, reliable and cost-effective technology for processing the bulk of liquid radioactive waste from nuclear power plants with WWER reactors in a safe form suitable for disposal. This technology involves the maximum use of waste processing equipment, which is already available at NPP sites, by processing all already accumulated and formed in the future evaporator bottoms to the state of salt melt. As a result, a package for radwaste disposal will be formed as a part of a protective container, four KRO-200 containers with salt melt with void-filled geopolymer, which is quite acceptable in terms of radiation protection properties.