Method of processing radioactive liquid wastes

Purpose: To reduce the volume of radioactive liquid wastes without increasing the viscosity thereof in the course of powderization in a BWR type reactor. Method: Liquid wastes essentially comprising boric acid-containing coolants are concentrated by way of evaporization and sodium carbonate is added to the concentrated liquid wastes in a boric acid : sodium molar ratio in a range from 0.2 to 0.9. Then, they are sintered at a temperature ranging from 200 to 6000C to obtain substantially water free powderous products. Since the optimum procession range is present at a lower sodium/boron molar ratio as compared with the prior case of adding sodium hydroxide, the addition amount of sodium carbonate can be decreased thereby reduce the amount of the resulted powder. (Furukawa, Y.)