HTGR Knowledge Base
Conference Article: Radioactive Waste Arising from HTR
J. Fachinger, H. Brücher, W. von Lensa, Institute for Safety Research and Reactor Technology, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, GERMANY; J.M. Turner, A. Nuttall, NNC Limited, Knutsford, UNITED KINGDOM; C. Bourdeloie, CEA Saclay, Gif sur Yvette, FRANCE; G. Brinkmann, Framatome-DE KWU NGES3, Erlangen, GERMANYAbstract
One objective of work package 4 within the European Commission co-funded HTR-N project /i/ was to summarize the waste streams arising from HTR reactors and to compare with those wastes from the operation of LWRs. Two different aspects have been dealt with, i.e. the waste generated during operation and during decommissioning. Provisional data for operational waste had been obtained from the German THTR 300. Decommissioning data were partially available from the American Fort St. Vrain reactor and from decommissioning planning for the German AVR reactor. A general conclusion from these data is, that there are only small differences between HTR and LWR operational wastes, with the exception of waste arising from spent fuel due to the high burn-up. For decommissioning waste, the main difference is the graphite from the reactor core, which poses specific challenges. These challenges are essentially the same as those for all other graphite moderated reactors. Therefore, conditioning and processing of spent fuel as well as advanced graphite treatment methods should be developed because the existing approaches and concepts are not optimised with respect to the produced volume and disposal features. Additional decontamination methods (e.g. thermal/chemical treatments) may help to reduce the radiotoxicity of radioactive graphite waste and may even allow recycling for nuclear use. Taking benefit from the analyses on the origins of the waste streams, future HTR designs can be much improved and may even contribute to waste minimisation strategies, in symbiosis with LWR by making use of the high burn-up capabilities.
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key words: Gas Cooled Reactor, Nuclear Technology
- Reference:
- Proceedings of the Conference on High Temperature Reactors, Beijing, China, September, 22-24, 2004
- International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)
- HTR-2004, pp:1-13
- International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)