Radioactive Effluents and Wastes

SG-O11 Operational Management of Radioactive Effluents and Wastes Arising in Nuclear Power Plants... 

Radioactive effluents and wastes were generated in a variety of process systems. These radioactive wastes included reactor primary coolant water, spent fuel storage basin cooling water, reactor periphery systems cooling water, reactor primary-coolant-loop decontamination and rinse solution, and miscellaneous drainage from reactor support facilities (WHC 1987a). 

Primarily, radioactive effluents and wastes were generated within the 105-N reactor building and the 109-N heat transfer building. The radioactive process effluent and waste streams ultimately were sent to either the 116-N-l crib and trench, the 116-N-3 crib and trench, or the 1314-N liquid waste loadout station (LWLS). 

The reactor and its experimental devices shall be operated to minimize the production of radioactive waste of all kinds, to ensure that releases of radioactive material to the environment are kept as low as reasonably achievable and to facilitate the handling and disposal of waste. Arrangements shall be put in place for the management of solid, liquid and gaseous radioactive waste in the research reactor facility and its ultimate removal from the facihty. All activities concerning radioactive effluents and waste shall be... 

INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Operational Management for Radioactive Effluents and Wastes Arising in Nuclear Power Plants A Safety Guide, Safety Series No. 50-SG-O11, IAEA, Vienna (1986). 

SG-O11 Operational management of radioactive effluents and wastes arising in nuclear power plants 1986... 

Guimond, R.J. and Windham, S.T., Radioactivity distribution in phosphate products, by-products, effluents and wastes. ORP/CSD-75-3, 1975. 

SC 64-22 Design of Effective Effluent and Environmental Monitoring Programs SC 64-23 Cesium in the Environment SC 72 Radiation Protection in Mammography SC 85 Risk of Lung Cancer from Radon SC 87 Radioactive and Mixed Waste... 

Safety Series No. 79 Design of Radioactive Waste Management Systems at Nuclear Power Plants (1986). Safety Series No. 90 The Application of the Principles for Limiting Releases of Radioactive Effluents in the Case of the Mining and Milling of Radioactive Ores (1989). 

For radioactive effluent treatment, the relevant membrane processes are microfiltration, ulfrafiltration (UF), reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, diffusion, and Donnan dialysis and liquid membrane processes and they can be used either alone or in conjunction with any of the conventional processes. The actual process selected would depend on the physical, physicochemical, and radiochemical nature of the effluents. The basic factors which help in the design of an appropriate system are permeate quality, decontamination, and VRFs, disposal methods available for secondary wastes generated, and the permeate. 

Production, Use, Release, and Disposal. The production of radon occurs directly from a radium source either in the environment or in a laboratory environment. The disposal of gaseous radioactive effluents has been documented. Increased radon concentrations have been detected in waste generated by uranium and phosphate mining therefore, these sites should be monitored on a continual basis. Although there are regulations for disposal of radionuclides in general, there are none that specifically address disposal of radon contaminated materials. Further research on the disposal of radon attached to charcoal, which is used in radon monitoring indoors, would be beneficial. 

Atmospheric discharges have been well within the limits and within the range of 2 to 10 Ci/day (522 Ci/year in average) and they tend to decrease there have actually been no liqiud radioactive effluents from the plant while it being operated. The average release of the solid radioactive waste is 22 mVyear. The average collective dose of the plant personnel is 84 rem/year. 

Environment. The nuclear reactor design shall include means to control the release of radioactive materials in gaseous and liquid effluent and to handle radioactive solid wastes produced during normal reactor operation, including AOEs. 

Nevertheless, there are still justifiable and legal reasons to carry out such opaations in the laboratory when hazards can be reduced safely. Neutralizatiorr, oxidation, reductiorr, and various otho" chemical conversions as well as physical methods of separation and concentration can be applied prudently to many laboratory-scale mixed wastes. However, the dual character of the hazard, chemical and radioactive, requires that additional precautions be exercised. Treatment for the chemical hazard must not create a radioactivity risk for personnel or the environment. For example, vapors or aerosols from a reaction, distillation, or evaporation must not lead to escape of unsafe levels of radioactive materials into the atmosphere. Fume hoods appropriate for such operations should be designed to trap any radioactive effluent. When mixed waste is made chemically safe for disposal into the sanitary sewer, the laboratory must ensure that the radioactivity hazard is below the standards set by the publicly owned treatment works (POTW). Several examples for reducing the hazard of mixed waste are described below ... 

The gaseous waste treatment system prowdes storage of radioactive effluent until it decays down to a value allowable for discharge to the environment through the HEPA filter and iodine filter into the plant stack. 

A reduction in solid radioactive wastes and radioactive effluents, effected by the use of leak-tight equipment and systems and by an increase in service life of the main replaceable equipment, such as steam generator pipe systems. 

The 1325-N LWDF, shown in Figure 3-20, started receiving part of the N Reactor liquid radioactive effluent in 1985. In September 1985, the 1325-N LWDF became the primary liquid radioactive waste disposal facility for the N Reactor. The nominal effluent flow rate during reactor operation was 6,345 L/min (1,700 gal/min) and is now less than 7.5 L/min (2 gal/min). 

M-I (1301-N) Crib and trench Received radioactive effluent from N Reactor and 109-N. Water contained activation and fission products and small cfuantities of corrosive liquids and laboratory wastes. Rectangular basin 290 ft long, 125 ft wide, 12 ft deep. The bottom is covered with 3 ft of large stones. An extension trench measured 50 by 1600 ft. Trench surface covered by concrete slabs. 

The radioactive effluent piped from the 116-N-2 storage tank was internal decontamination solution from cleaning the primary coolant loop in N Reactor and various waste decontamination solutions from small decontamination Jobs. The primary loop was decontaminated every 3 to 5 years. The radioactive wastewater resulting from this procedure contained phosphoric acid and diethyl thiourea. The wastewater was neutralized in the 116-N-2 facility. 

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