Energy recovery, waste handling

The use of nuclear power has been a topic of debate for many years. Nuclear fuel represents a resource for generating energy weU into the future, whereas economically recoverable fossil fuel reserves may become depleted. Worker exposure, injuries, and fataHties in nuclear fuel mining are reportedly far less compared to those associated with recovery and handling of fossil fuels. Potential hazards associated with transporting and storing radioactive wastes do exist, however. 

Waste incineration systems Handling equipment, internals, cleanup Conventional MSW/RDF facilities, with m without energy recovery... 

The second level of the hierarchy is recycling/reuse/recovery. The distinction here is that the waste requires some input of energy (e.g., distillation) before it can be reused. Because of this additional waste-handling step, there is also an increased potential for spillage and other fugitive losses of material that would not occur had the waste not been generated in the first place. However, when source reduction techniques are not available or practical, recycling, reuse, or recovery can be important alternatives to disposal. 

The aim of in-miU waste handling is usually to achieve as high a dry soHds content as possible, because all commonly used methods for material and energy recovery benefit from a high solids content. 

Recovery Act (RCRA) and by the NRC under the Atomic Energy Act. The EPA and NRC have developed special procedures on how to handle and dispose of this special category. The DOE operates an incinerator in Oak Ridge, Tennessee that bums mixed hazardous radioactive wastes (DOE 1996a). 

During the last years, an extensive amount of time and energy has been consumed developing an alternative hydrometallurgical method to handle the paste and to ensure the continuation of its efficient recovery. This is of vital importance if the dumping of waste batteries is to be avoided. Several processes (2), as shown in Table I, have been published in the past but none of these reached industrial size operations. 

The laek of fired reformer provides an ideal opportunity for integrating a gas turbine into the process. Utility duties can be handled in the turbine exhaust duct, and an overall improvement in energy utilization is made possible since the gas turbine with associated heat recovery can achieve a thermal efficiency of over 85% the steam cycle normally exploited in a fired reformer application (where waste heat generates steam that drives the syngas compressor turbine) is generally limited to about 33%. 

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