Development of chemical decontamination for low level radioactive wastes

During routine intermittent inspection and maintenance at nuclear power plants, a considerable quantity of low level radioactive waste is generated requiring release from the nuclear site or treating additionally. To decontaminate this waste for safe release from the nuclear power plant, the first step could be washing the waste in Methylene chloride, CH2Cl2, to remove most of the paint coating. However, CH2Cl2 washing does not completely remove the paint coating from the waste, which in the next step is shot blasted with plastic bead media to loose and remove the remaining paint coating. Following in succession, in the third step, the waste is washed in a chelate solution, after which most waste is decontaminated and suitable to be released for recycling. The residual chelate solution may be decomposed into nontoxic carbon dioxide and water by an electrolysis process and then safely discharged into the environment. (author)