Waste Loading Research Articles

Examining the microbial composition of natural springs in Bhaderwah, Jammu and Kashmir, India.

Natural springs are the main source of water supply for domestic and agricultural use for humans living in the mountainous regions of Asia. Increasing anthropogenic activities with associated waste load, coupled with inadequate sanitation, and contamination of natural water resources and the environment are emerging as important public health issues. We performed a prospective microbiological and physicochemical investigation of water samples from seven distinct natural springs situated at an altitude of 1615m in the Bhaderwah region of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Bacterial groups belonging to opportunistic pathogens such as members of Moraxellaceae (Acinetobacter), Arcobacteraceae (Pseudoarcobacter), Pseudomonadaceae (Pseudomonas), Oxalobacteraceae (Massilia), and Flavobacteriaceae (Flavobacterium) were observed. The total coliform test indicated an intermediate level of risk of fecal contamination of the springs, except for one site. Through a questionnaire-based survey of the local population, we discovered that around 40% of participants had suffered from waterborne diseases including typhoid (~14%) and diarrhea (~11%). Our data suggests that increased surveillance of fecal contamination and heterotrophic opportunistic pathogens is needed to enhance water quality and reduce health risks for people living in mountainous regions.

Clinical Leadership and Integration of Triple Bottom Line for Planetary Health

The accelerating global concern of climate change and its link with human health requires sustainability to be a crucial part of healthcare quality. The protection of planetary health in the context of ecological and social determinants of health require the integration of all aspects of health services including the professionals, management, and administration. Clinical health professionals particularly hold a critical position in this scenario, as they are mandated to protect individuals and communities from diseases caused or accelerated by environmental factors. Therefore, to combat the negative impacts of climate change on human health, the trusted voice of clinicians needs to be raised for communicating climate risks and solutions to patients, the public, and policymakers.
 Medical colleges’ curricula and continuing education programs require an alignment of climate and health education. This will equip future and current health professionals with skills for planetary health, regardless of their area of health focus. Clinical teaching and training with an updated medical education curriculum focusing on prevention; self-care; patient empowerment; lean service delivery such as community-based interventions; minimizing waste of medications and consumables, and low carbon emission alternatives is imperative to health service’s contribution in enhancing the quality of ecological sustainability.
 It has been documented that if the healthcare sector is ranked as a country, it would be the 5th largest CO2 emitter in the world with 4.4% global net emissions of greenhouse gases.1 The WHO has recently reported that 60% of healthcare facilities in the global south are ill equipped to handle existing waste loads. The healthcare community, clinicians, and hospital management are well-placed to play a vital role as change agents with Health in All Policies approach by protecting health during the current climate crises. An eco-friendly, equitable, interprofessional, and transdisciplinary approach is required to create a resilient healthcare sector that works harmoniously with nature while coping with increasing disease burdens and challenges to healthcare infrastructure.
 The triple bottom line is a holistic framework that helps organizations consider the environmental, social, and economic costs of their actions.2 In a healthcare setting, triple bottom line incorporates environmental and social impacts with patient-based outcomes and financial costs to measure the sustainability of healthcare interventions and services.2 It is an approach to reduce the adverse effects of healthcare delivery on the environment by incorporating improved sustainable quality and resource stewardship. The overall sustainable value is measured when the patient-based outcomes comprising utilization of a system, service, or process in healthcare are weighed against the “planet, people, and profit”.
 In conclusion, embedding sustainability principles, core knowledge, and practice in health professional expertise; the voice of clinicians in advocacy and policy to minimize healthcare sector greenhouse gases and ecologic footprint; and cross-sectoral solutions to the climate crisis are the only way forward for sustainable healthcare and the planet.
 Editor-in-Chief

Solid-State Power Combining for Heating Small Volumes of Mixed Waste Materials

Microwave heating of waste results in chemical breakdown that can lead to conversion of mixed waste materials to fuel. Heating waste mixtures with microwave energy rather than incineration results in faster breakdown and can therefore be more efficient. Here we address heating of small volumes of mixed food waste materials with widely differing and temperature-dependent electrical properties. Uniform heating is accomplished with mode mixing within a loaded cavity and by spatial power combining of solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs). We present a heating comparison of two circuit-combined and spatially-combined 2.45 GHz 70-W 65% efficient GaN SSPAs with controlled relative phase. The heating efficacy is shown to improve by volumetric combining inside the waste loading. The temperature changes in several locations and for several common waste materials and mixtures are investigated and compared to FEM electromagnetic simulations, as well as FDTD multi-physics simulations that incorporate thermal dependence of material properties. The approach is scalable in volume and power, demonstrated by a simulation comparison of the 1.4 L small cavity to a 5.2 L volume.

Water quality assessment for River Mahanadi of Odisha, India using statistical techniques and Artificial Neural Networks

The present study is conducted on Mahanadi River, which is considered as the lifeline for the state of Odisha. There is a persistent outcry of the people in upstream reaches of the catchment, blaming the industries for pollution of water, air and adjoining land, whereas the industries have taken all steps to remain as zero effluent industries. Also due to presence of the Hirakud dam and its water reservoir, the major multipurpose water resources project, near Sambalpur of Odisha state in India, there is a boost in agricultural production. The farmers are using various fertilizers and pesticides to increase crop production, which has made the portion of Odisha, close to the Hirakud dam, a food bowl of Odisha state. The management, utilization and protection of the water resources is based on right assessment of pollutants released from both point and non-point sources. It helps in improving the health condition of the people, and irrigation water use by controlling the disposal of waste load. To address the issue scientifically, the demand for development of water quality models has increased manifold. The objective of the current study is to develop a model to assess the temporal and spatial variability in the quality of water of Mahanadi river basin lying in the state of Odisha and to evaluate with respect to municipal and agricultural use. Pollution of the river water is mainly due to releases of agro-chemicals and releases from the local industries. To take a stock of the situation, six different locations (gauging stations) are selected at different locations of the river and the water quality data such as pH, Temperature, PO4, SO4, TDS, EC, Nitrate, K, F, Cl, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Turbidity, T-Hardness, T-Alkalinity, TC, BOD, DO and BOD are collected from the year 2011–2019 for the purpose of analysis and modeling of water quality. To interpret the complex water quality data matrices and to identify the most influential water quality parameters, three different methods viz., Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Factor Analysis (FA), and Cluster Analysis (CA) were applied. Water Quality Index (WQI) for different seasons were calculated to evaluate the quality of water. The parameters such as Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), Permeability Index of soil, Percent Sodium, Magnesium ratio, Kelley's ratio, Residual sodium carbonate and Exchangeable sodium percentage were used to evaluate the quality of water from view point of irrigation.The PCA and ANN are applied jointly to predict the water quality parameters. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to interpret the complex water quality data matrices and to choose the parameters which have major influence on water quality. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) were used to develop a model and to simulate as well as to predict the water quality parameters. It is observed that ANN model predicts the water quality with an appreciable accuracy. Scatter plots between actual and predicted WQI for training and validation phases showed high degree of co-efficient of determination (R2) with the values 90.14% and 98.2%. Hence it is observed that Back-propagation Neural Networks (BPNN) is able to predict the water quality one month ahead, thereby giving sufficient time to take preventive measures to keep river water free from pollution.

Analysis of multi-cascade CCHP system with gas turbine bypass extraction air energy storage

The operational load of gas turbine can be regulated by using compressor bypass extraction. In this paper, a combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) system integrating gas turbine cycle (GTC), compressed air energy storage (CAES), supercritical CO2 Brayton recompression cycle (SCRC), organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and absorption refrigeration cycle (ARC) is proposed. The use of CAES not only enables flexible recovery of waste heat and load demand regulation, but also enables effective storage and secondary use of bypass extracted air from the compressor. The temperature of the graded expanded air is reduced and returned to the gas turbine unit, improving its thermal performance. The exergy and economic analyses show that the GTC has the largest percentage of both exergy destruction and investment cost rates, over 60%. Under the proposed operation model, the payback period of a single gas turbine is 4.12 years, and the payback period of the proposed CCHP system is 2.44 years. Thermodynamic, economic and environmental evaluation models are established to analyze the system performance at different loads. At the lowest load operation, the energy efficiency of the CCHP system can reach 75.99%, the exergy efficiency is 45.89%, the unit energy cost is 0.032 $/kWh, and the greenhouse gas equivalent emission is 0.313 kgCO2e/kWh. Compared with the other four cascade waste heat recovery systems, the proposed CCHP system greatly improves the thermodynamic performance and reduces the unit energy cost rate and greenhouse gas equivalent emissions, especially under low load operation conditions.

Waste load allocation by integrated GMS modeling and economic evaluation for nitrate reduction in Varamin aquifer

Abstract Groundwater is a dependable freshwater resource in arid and semi-arid areas where its quality management is essential. However, untreated wastewater is a risk to safe water supply from aquifers. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) can reduce pollutants, but their impact on groundwater quality versus their operating costs requires case studies. This research uses the two modules of the groundwater modeling system (GMS) to simulate the Varamin Plain, south-eastern Tehran, Iran. The MODFLOW and MT3D were used for groundwater quantity and quality modeling, respectively. Through these modules, the effectiveness of two WWTPs (Pakdasht and Varamin) in six waste load allocation (WLA) scenarios was compared based on nitrate reduction in 3-year and 10-year periods. The construction and operating costs of each WLA scenario were also calculated. The best WLA is a scenario with the lowest marginal cost. Therefore, constructing Varamin WWTP with 25% nitrogen removal was the selected option. Here, the average nitrate concentration in the aquifer is reduced from 28.4 mg/L (±4.1) to less than 25 mg/L (±2.4) with an annual marginal cost of 8 M$.L/mg. It implies that constructing more WWTPs or tertiary units for nitrate removal is not recommended as they do not add significant nitrate abatement in groundwater regarding the related costs.

Sustainable Dyeing and Finishing of Cotton Fabrics with Layer-by-Layer Technique

Large amounts of water, synthetic dyestuffs and chemicals are used in the wet processes of textile finishing, and at the end of these processes, liquors containing chemical substances create a waste load. For this reason, it is of great importance to develop new wet-finishing processes that use less water, dyestuffs and chemicals. For this purpose, the layer-by-layer deposition method (LbL) was used in this research as an environmentally friendly, sustainable method that can be used in wet-finishing processes to minimize chemical, water and energy consumption. The dyeing and functional finishing of cotton fabrics were carried out in one process by the LbL method. Cotton fabrics were pre-treated with a commercial cationic dye fixation agent and cationic charges were produced on the fabric surfaces. Reactive and direct dyestuff groups were used in the dyeing process of cotton fabrics and fluorocarbon was used in the functional finishing process. Eight and 12 dye/fluorocarbon layered structures were obtained by LbL deposition using a laboratory-type padder. Cotton fabrics were dyed and finished with the same dyes and fluorocarbon via the padding method and both samples were compared. The washing, rubbing and light color fastness properties, color strength and color difference of the dyed samples were tested. Tensile strength, air permeability, SEM graphs, contact angle, water and oil repellency analyses were performed for the treated fabrics.

Effect of Si/Al molar ratio and curing temperatures on the immobilization of radioactive borate waste in metakaolin-based geopolymer waste form

Immobilization of radioactive borate waste (RBW) using a geopolymer with a high Si/Al ratio has been challenging because boron-silicon networks lower the compressive strength and delay the setting time. In this study, metakaolin-based geopolymer waste form to immobilize simulant RBW was fabricated using different Si/Al ratios (1.0–1.4) and curing temperatures (26 and 60 ℃). The 7-day compressive strength results revealed that a certain amount of silicon and an elevated curing temperature are required to achieve high compressive strength and waste loading. Following waste acceptance criteria tests, all geopolymers exhibited compressive strengths higher than 3.445 MPa. The leachability index of boron was higher than 6.0, and the leaching mechanism was identified as diffusion. No significant structural changes in the geopolymer were observed after thermal cycling and gamma irradiation tests. The physically bound or unincorporated RBW was leached out of the geopolymer during water immersion and leaching tests; however, boron, which was chemically connected with silicon, was present as an inert phase together with a geopolymer binder. Consequently, immobilizing RBW using a geopolymer with a low Si/Al ratio (1.4) is beneficial in terms of RBW loading and structural durability.

Estimation of radionuclides leaching characteristics in different sized geopolymer waste forms with simulated spent ion-exchange resin

This study presents a method to solidify spent ion-exchange resin (IER) in a metakaolin-based geopolymer and shows results of mechanical strength, immersion, leaching, irradiation, and thermal cycling tests for waste acceptance criteria (WAC) to repository. The geopolymer waste form with 20 wt% of simulated spent IER met the WAC in South Korea (ROK), and the leaching tests of various sized-waste forms up to 15.0 × 30.0 cm and waste loadings up to 20 wt% for 1–5 d and 1–90 d achieved a leachability index, Li > 6. In a leaching test for 5 d, the cumulative fraction leached (CFL) for Cs, which leached the most, was linearly correlated with the square root of leaching time for all waste forms, and Li increased as the size of the waste form increased. The CFL was also correlated with elapsed time in the 90 d leaching test. The correlations among CFL, time, and volume-to-surface area ratio of waste forms used to estimate the Li of Cs of a 200-L sized geopolymer with 15 wt% IER showed the Li values as 14.73 (5 d) and 17.71 (90 d), respectively, indicating that the large-sized geopolymer waste form met the WAC.

Immobilization and He+ irradiation effects of Gd2Zr2O7-based ceramic waste form for radioactive waste disposal

The Gd2Zr2O7(GZO)-based ceramic waste form exhibits promising potential for radioactive waste immobilization. However, the isomorphic immobilization capacity and irradiation effects of GZO-based ceramic waste forms with varying waste loads remain inadequately understood. This study employed a facile combustion method to synthesize ceramic powders and utilized conventional sintering with a relatively short dwelling time to fabricate GZO-based ceramic waste forms. We investigated the isomorphic immobilization behavior and He ion irradiation effects of the synthesized waste forms. The outcomes demonstrate that GZO effectively immobilizes simulated waste composed of 11 types of oxides, achieving a waste load as high as 50 wt% with a single pyrochlore phase and homogeneous element distribution. Under He+ irradiation, aggravated structural degradations, including exacerbated lattice swelling, increased amorphization degree, and premature He bubble chain/microcrack formation, were observed in GZO-based waste forms with an increasing waste load.

Thermal Assessment of Repository Footprint Requirement for Advanced Fuel Cycles

Decay heat is an important constraint for repository size and design because it can drive processes that affect performance and compromise critical materials. This paper investigates how compliance with repository thermal limits is affected by three decay heat management strategies: waste package loading, waste package spacing, and surface storage time. In particular, this paper focuses on how repository area, a result of package spacing, is impacted by waste loading and surface storage time. A two-part analytical heat transfer model is presented and executed iteratively to determine the minimum allowable repository area. The analysis considers three generic close-contact repository designs along with the wastes generated from the 40 fuel cycle analysis examples used to generate metric data for the Fuel Cycle Evaluation and Screening study. Detailed results are presented for two fuel cycles: the once-through use of low-enriched uranium fuel in light water reactors and the continuous recycling of U and Pu in sodium fast reactors. Two limits for surface storage time are identified: the time required for disposal to be possible at all and the time at which further surface storage time yields no gains. The impact of waste loading is also diminished with increasing surface storage time. In general, the generic salt repository is most flexible to accept high-heat-generating wastes with less surface storage time than other repository environments. Limited-recycle fuel cycles are shown to pose a disposal challenge because of elevated, sustained decay heat generation in the waste.

A Bi-level optimization approach to reduce the pollution burden of lake water with ecological compensation

Lake Ecological Compensation (LEC) mechanism is a localized approach of payment for ecosystem services to address the conflict between economic development and ecological conservation. However, how to motivate regional stakeholders to participate in water quality protection is a challenge. Based on the traditional Coase Theorem, vertical eco-compensation mechanism has been proposed to solve pollution of lake basin. The quantification of LEC is characterized by key water quality indicators (NH3-N and COD) in this paper. Integrating LEC mechanism with the ecological-economic model, this paper proposes a bi-level optimization framework for the conservation of the lake water environment. Referring to Coase’s theory, the leader’s goal is to distribute waste load permits equally to sub-regions while followers aim to minimize environmental costs. The appropriate application of this method to Taihu Basin demonstrates its efficiency and practicality. The LEC mechanism with different scenarios is analyzed and suggestions for lake water quality are made. The results show that: (1) Considering equitable principle, the new COD allocation scheme has reduced the total amount of emissions by 17% compared to the data in 2020, and the total amount of NH3-N has decreased by 16%. (2) With the cooperation of lake basin institutions, the LEC mechanism is proved to be an effective measure in promoting the conservation of the lake water environment. (3) The spillover effect of environmental and ecological policies in lake water indicates the need to upgrade industrial structure. This paper proposes to provide a more reliable the conservation of the lake water environment paradigm.

Beyond U/Pu separation: Separation of americium from the highly active PUREX raffinate

This review provides a comprehensive overview of published hydrometallurgical chemical processes capable of separating americium from curium and the lanthanides. A search for highly selective and robust americium separation methods is motivated by the fact that americium isotopes contribute significantly to the long-term heat load and residual radiotoxicity of high level waste originating from the PUREX process, nowadays still the key reprocessing technology to recycle uranium and plutonium from spent nuclear fuel. The separation (partitioning) and subsequent nuclear transmutation (or burning) of americium would allow a substantial improvement in the construction of an underground final repository and provide safety benefits – highly relevant for the exploitation of such a facility over extended periods of time. Besides the discussion of basic properties of the various separation methods, an evaluation of their compatibility with upstream and downstream processes as well as the treatment of secondary waste streams is also provided.

Study on the benefit of HLLW partitioning on the high-level waste glasses from the viewpoint of waste management

The volume and characteristics of heat-generating waste glasses produced through spent fuel reprocessing PUREX process + HLLW partitioning TRPO process are evaluated as a function of burn-up and cooling period of spent fuel in this study. The waste loading of glass is assumed to be restricted by the heat generation rate, MoO3 content, and noble metal content. The results show that: 1) For spent fuel of 8–20 years cooling, the volume of waste glasses after HLLW partitioning is 39%–25% of that before partitioning. 2) After removing >99.967% of α-nuclides in HLLW through TRPO process, the TRPO raffinate stream can be immobilized into waste glasses. After 95 years of decay storage, intermediate-depth disposal rather than geological disposal of TRPO raffinate waste glasses could be engineered. 3) Separation of Sr and Cs from TRPO raffinate hardly reduces the volume of waste glasses. SrCs separation before vitrification is unnecessary. 4) The insoluble residues generated during the shearing and dissolution of spent fuel may not be suitable for mixing with the TRPO raffinate stream, nor for immobilizing into a borosilicate glass matrix. Alternative solutions rather than vitrification are encouraged.

Assessing Plastic Waste Discharges into the Sea in Indonesia: An Integrated High-Resolution Modeling Approach That Accounts for Hydrology and Local Waste Handling Practices

Plastic litter is increasingly accumulating in the marine environment, with rivers considered key pathways for entry. Current estimations of plastic input into the sea from land-based sources are limited in accounting for the mobilization and transport of plastic generated in the whole catchment area or in considering local variations in waste handling practices. Here, we show that, with an integrated discharge modeling approach (based on actual rainfall and local estimates for exposed mismanaged plastic waste), more realistic temporal estimates of plastic discharges into the sea can be constructed. Applying this approach to Indonesia enabled us to estimate the total national inputs of plastic waste into the sea from rivers and coasts and how these vary with rainfall, while providing insight into those catchments, local communities, and waste handling practices that most contribute to plastic waste leakages. We found that the plastic fluxes vary significantly in both the short and long term and that the total amount of plastic waste discharged during wet years may be twice as much as during dry years. Furthermore, river size, catchment population density, local waste management, and proximity of point sources influence river plastic waste loads. Such an integrated assessment can be very effective in helping to prioritize where interventions are most needed and, in combination with frequent monitoring, can provide evidence of the impact that upstream measures have on preventing plastic inputs into the sea.

Isolation and Celulolytic Activity Assay of Actinobacteria Isolated from Palm Oil Wastewater

Cellulose plays an important role in the carbon cycle in nature and is the largest compound. This study aimed to isolate, to characterize and to determine actinobacteria that capable of producing cellulases. The sampling method in this study was carried out by purposive sampling at the outlet point of aeration pond of the wastewater treatment plant (IPAL) from palm oil waste station of PT. Teupin Lada. Isolation of actinobacteria was carried out on Humic Acid Vitamin b Agar (HVA), morphological characterization was carried out on Yeast Malt Agar (YMA), Yeast Starch Agar (YSA), Oatmeal Agar (OA), and microscopic characterization of actinobacteria and measuring the diameter of the clear zone formed on Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) medium using the indicator Congo Red. Eight isolates were obtained from the isolation. Of the 8 isolates obtained, 7 of them were able to produce cellulase enzymes which were measured based on the clear zone formed in the test Congo Red on Carboxymethil Cellulose (CMC), and one isolate did not show any clear zones. The highest value of Cellulolytic Index (IS) was obtained from isolate ATLS-05, namely 8.38 mm. HIGHLIGHTS Cellulose plays an important role in the carbon cycle in nature and is the largest compound The high waste load especially palm oil mill effluent (Elaeis guineensis) or known as Palm Oil Mill Effluent(POME) could cause various problems for the environment and society. POME is wastewater from the palm oil industry, which is one of the most polluting agro-industrial wastes Actinobacteria are one of the soil microbes which have the greatest abundance and play an important role in the decomposition process. One of the roles of soil microbes is too degrading cellulose GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Load of Industrial & Domestic Waste in the Ground Water

Load of Industrial & Domestic Waste in the Ground Water

Potential methods to reduce the thermal impact of vitrified waste from spent mixed oxide fuel on geological repositories

Compared to the vitrified, high-level radioactive waste (HLW) from spent UO2 fuel (UO2-HLW glass), that of mixed oxide (MOX) fuel (MOX-HLW glass) exhibits high heat generation over a long period of time. Thus, to reduce the associated waste volume and repository footprint, it is essential to prevent bentonite buffer alteration by mitigating heat generation. In this study, we evaluated five potential methods of decreasing the bentonite buffer temperature in a geological repository for MOX-HLW glass. Of these five methods, the separation of minor actinides (MA) from high-level liquid waste (HLLW) was the most effective. This is because the main nuclide involved in heat generation in MOX-HLW glass is Am-241. An MA separation rate of 81% was required to maintain the bentonite buffer temperature below the Japanese upper disposal limit of 100 °C. Thus, it is important to measure the amount of Am-241 when disposing of MOX-HLW glass. Assuming that only Am-241 was disposed of, the maximum Am-241 waste loading under a bentonite buffer temperature of 100 °C was 0.33 wt%, equating to the disposal of only 1.32 kg of Am-241 per 400 kg of MOX-HLW glass. Thus, there is a need for new methods of treating and disposing of Am-241.Graphical abstractRelationship between bentonite buffer temperature and (a) minor actinide (MA) separation ratio from high-level liquid waste (HLLW), (b) mixed oxide (MOX) high-level radioactive waste (HLW) glass and UO2 HLLW mixing ratio, (c) waste loading in MOX-HLW glass, (d) MOX-HLW glass storage time, and (e) canister footprint, representing five methods of mitigating heat generation from disposed MOX-HLW glass.

IMPACT OF INDUSTRIALIZATION ON THE PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF THE AMI RIVER

Rapid industrialization, along with other human activities, has had a negative impact on the environment in India. Major industries lack of insufficient effluent treatment facilities. It contributes to environmental degradation. Present study of the physicochemical analysis of Ami River. Samples were collected from GIDA sector-13, Gorakhpur. Physicochemical parameters were studied one year 2020- 2021. All parameters reported less or more than standard permissible limits of CPCB and WHO. pH reported 8.5 to 8.85. Temperature 32° C in summer, color brownish black and brown in site-1 and site-2, odor, pungent smell recorded site-1 and site-2, turbidity 48 NTU in summer, EC 111.1 µmhos/cm2 in rainy season, TSS 1300 mg/L, TDS 597.56 mg/L, free CO2 12 mg/L, DO 2.0 mg/L in summer, BOD 1167 mg/L in winter, COD 1063.5 mg/L, in summer, very higher than permissible limit. The value found above 0.5 has been highlighted and considered the relationship study. The correlation analysis is identified that EC, COD, BOD, CO2, turbidity, TSS, alkalinity, observed higherlevel correlation with water quality parameters in all seasons. These studies prove that the river is carrying a heavy load of organic waste that exceeds its dilution, self purification capability. High anthropogenic activities, improper sanitation and direct discharge of effluent by industrial and domestic sewage that is finally altered into the below class E- categories water

Estimation of Waste Package Inventories and Characteristics from Different Advanced Fuel Cycles

Future utilization of nuclear power may involve fuel cycles that incorporate new reactors and new fuel utilization schemes. In comparing fuel cycles in terms of their waste characteristics, many previous studies have focused on properties intrinsic to the wastes themselves: mass, radioactivity, and/or radiotoxicity. These properties do not directly inform analyses that evaluate waste management strategies, impacts, or risks. For these, information about waste packages and waste loading is critical. This paper reports on research performed to bridge the divide between nuclear fuel cycle and waste management analyses while accommodating the diversity of reactors, processes, and waste forms that could be utilized by advanced fuel cycles. An object-oriented Python code, Nuclear Waste Analysis in Python, was written to connect fuel cycle data with backend process information, thereby generating waste form characteristics and package inventories. The backend process models are informed by literature review and engineering judgment. The package is applied to the fuel cycles considered in the Fuel Cycle Evaluation and Screening (FCES) study and is benchmarked against the FCES study waste management evaluation metric data for mass and radioactivity. Hypothetical waste package inventories are reported for each fuel cycle as functions of spent fuel and high-level waste loading.