High-level waste interim storage

The generators and owners of high-level waste and spent fuel have the primary responsibility to provide for, and the responsibility to pay the costs of, the interim storage of such waste and spent fuel until such waste and spent fuel is accepted by DOE. 

After a period of interim storage as liquid, step 12, to permit the rate of heat generation to decrease, high-level wastes are solidified in step 13. The duration of interim storage as liquid can be reduced if the spent fuel is stored as solid an equivalent time before reprocessing. 

NWPA provisions involved protecting public health and safety and the environment, acceptance of waste for disposal, creating a repository of permanent disposal of spent fuel and high level waste, safe transportation of waste to the repository, interim storage of spent fuel for utilities, public participation in the nuclear waste disposal solution and costs recovered from waste generators. Establishing national waste sites for HLRW is not fully resolved. 

High-Level Liquid Waste (HLLW) Treatment. The high-level liquid waste is produced as a raffinate from the HA solvent extraction cycle in Purex. After generation, the HLLW is immediately transferred to the WTF via an underground pipeline without concentration or interim storage. This strategy minimizes the problems associated with solids precipitation. 

The removal methodology, required recovery equipment, and transport mechanisms for dealing with such waste must be determined in relationship to the quantity of radioactive material involved, its activity levels, and the avaUability of either interim or long-term storage facilities within the jurisdiction in which the waste is generated. In some instances, such as low-level spills, it may be possible to coUect aU or most contaminated waste relatively easily. In others, however, it may be impossible to remove any material quickly due to the volume of contaminated waste involved or high activity levels. There also may not be an avaUable repository for the material. 

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