Publication Laka-library:
Treatment of PVC-Containing Nuclear Waste
| Author | Huntelaar, Roobol, Smit-Groen |
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1-01-8-53-21.pdf |
| Date | September 2002 |
| Classification | 1.01.8.53/21 (PETTEN RESEARCH LOCATION - LEGACY WASTE (Waste Storage Facility)) |
| Front |
From the publication:
Abstract The disposal of PVC containing materials in the presence of high active nuclear waste in the past has led to an accelerated degradation of the storage cans on the Petten site containing this type of waste. The origin of this phenomenon lies in the decomposition of PVC under influence of gamma irradiation, in which hydrochloric acid is liberated, which is aggressive to steel. In the coming years all the high-active waste on the Petten site will have to be transported to the Storage and Treatment Building for High-level Radioactive Waste at the COVRA site in Borssele (The Netherlands). However, to enable this the form of all the nuclear waste has to be chemically neutral. PVC-containing waste, due to the aggressive degradation products, does not belong to this category and will need additional pre-treatment. A study has been performed on how PVC can be separated from other materials so that the remnants are stable towards high gamma fields. In order to achieve this the following treatments have been studied: dissolving PVC in organic liquids, dissolving PVC in supercritical CO2, sub- cooling PVC to nitrogen temperatures in order to separate decomposed PVC from the other waste manually, storage of PVC containing waste in resistant containers, and thermal decomposition of PVC. The outcome of these studies indicates that only a combination of the latter two methods will lead to an acceptable result. In this report a description of all methods will be given leading to that conclusion. KEYWORDS: high-active solid waste, waste treatment, separation of waste, PVC, poly vinyl chloride