Volume reduction of spent radioactive ion exchange resin

A process is described for reducing the volume of spent radioactive ion exchange resins which have been used for conditioning water circulated through a nuclear reactor. The spent resins are discharged from the reactor system as radioactive wastes to a spent resin storage tank in the form of a slurry. The slurry is first vacuum dewatered to remove the free water and then the intrinsic water in the wet resin beads is removed by drying in a vacuum fluidized bed chamber utilizing superheated steam which also acts to fluidize the bed. Further drying is accomplished by spraying the partially dried resin and superheated steam through a steam injected two-fluid nozzle for further extraction of intrinsic water from the resins. The steam is discharged to a condenser and the dried resins to an evacuated disposal drum. Approximate 4:1 volume reductions from the resin-water slurry to the dried resin is obtainable by practicing the process. 5 claims, 2 figures