Concepts and operating results of minimizing radioactive emissions for the Wackersdorf reprocessing plant

In a time of growing concern over environmental impacts from any industrial plant, the ideal goal of zero release has to be approached. This applies to the industrial reprocessing plant in Wackersdorf (WAW), too. Regarding gaseous emissions, remarkable efforts have been made in Germany to improve the off-gas cleaning systems. Significant results and operation experience from KfK, WAK and PAMELA are presented. The design of the off-gas trains for WAW is based on these results. It fulfils operational needs as well as the requirements imposed by the German licensing authorities to minimize as far as possible any impacts from emissions. Off-gas systems in reprocessing plants have to treat dry and humid gas streams and to separate aerosols and gaseous materials. A minimization of emissions will be achieved by improving the cleaning units of the off-gas lines and by decreasing the total amount of off-gas or of special constituents. Both measurements are presented, and the decontamination factors achieved are described. In this context, details are given of the behavior of some nuclides such as ruthenium and iodine. Finally, the emissions expected of WAW are indicated