Advances in low-level radwaste treatment

Rising burial costs for low-level radioactive wastes are reviving old volume-reduction techniques and prompting research in new technologies to lower the amount of water, air, and combustible organic materials. The low cost of shipping wastes to the Oak Ridge Nationl Laboratory for burial made it the preferred method after 1953 until the economic picture began changing in the late 1970s. Commercial volume-reduction processes include crystallization, dehydration, compaction, and incineration. Research projects at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) are focusing on advanced volume-reduction systems that improve traditional systems two or three times by combining two or more techniques. A detailed model designed to make cost-benefit assessment or retrofitting existing plants indicates that the technology is now economically feasible, a finding which has already led to 13 utility installation commitments. Examples of specific commercial systems include fluidized-bed, bitumen, crystallizer, blender-dryer, and glass furnace systems