The HRA/Solarium Project: Processing of Widely Varying High- and Medium-Level Waste

Starting in 2003, Belgoprocess will proceed with the treatment and conditioning of some 200 m3 of widely varying high- and medium-level waste from earlier research and development work, to meet standard acceptance criteria for later disposal. The gross volume of primary and secondary packages amounts to 2,600 m3. The waste has been kept in decay storage for up to 30 years. The project was started in 1997. Operation of the various processing facilities will take 7-8 years. The overall volume of conditioned waste will be of the order of 800 m3. All conditioned waste will be stored in appropriate storage facilities onsite. At present (November, 2002), a new processing facility has been constructed, the functional tests of the equipment have been performed and the startup phase has been started. Several cells of the Pamela vitrification facility onsite will be adapted for the treatment of high-level and highly a-contaminated waste; low-level a/a waste will be treated in the existing facility for super compaction and conditioning by embedding into cement (CILVA). The bulk of these waste, of which 95% are solids, the remainder consisting of mainly solidified liquids, have been produced between 1967 and 1988. They originate from various research programs and reactor operation at the Belgian nuclear energy research centre SCK CEN, isotope production, decontamination and dismantling operations