Chemical treatment of low-level liquid waste - example case

This paper addresses one of the steps for the management of radioactive waste at CDTN/CNEN volume reduction of liquid waste by chemical treatment. The object of the chemical treatment is to concentrate radionuclides into a small bulk of insoluble sludge, reducing the activity level of the large volume of low-activity liquid wastes sufficiently to permit their dispersal to the environment. At CDTN several projects are being carried out in the fields of fuel cycle and nuclear applications, generating, among others, low-level aqueous liquid wastes. These wastes are segregated at their sources, and characterized through a series of radiochemical and chemical analysis. According to their characteristics, laboratory assays are set up in order to define the best methodology to be used to decontaminate the wastes and therefore reduce the volume to be cemented. The definition of treatment methodologies for CDTN liquid wastes in different compositions is presented as a case study. (author)