Compatibility of cement with low and medium level wastes generated at nuclear power plants

The incorporation of low-and medium-level wastes in cement can give rise to serious problems due to the interaction between radwastes and cement components. Some troubles can occur during the first stages of the cementation process while deleterious phenomena come into evidence in the medium-and long-term. With the aim to improve the quality of the final waste forms a pretreatment of the waste streams is often necessary, as well as the addition of some special agents to the cement matrix. The prediction of the long-term behaviour of the final products is of main importance in this research field. To this purpose some accelerated tests have been proposed, but many effort would be further devoted to the comprehension of the waste/matrix interaction. In this paper the principal waste streams are reviewed together with the possible remedies which seem to be more suitable for their cementation. Thus the opportunity of separatly handling and solidifying different types of waste is once more supported