Science and technology for disposal of radioactive tank wastes

Book · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1998

OSTI ID:20014441

Schulz, W W; Lombardo, N J ^[1]

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1. eds.

One of the legacies of the Cold War is a huge stockpile of radioactive wastes generated by over 40 years of nuclear weapons production. Safe treatment and disposal of these wastes, together with the associated problems of facility decommissioning and site clean-up, represents one of the largest and most complex environmental challenges of the present-day. Amongst these nuclear wastes is a wide variety of radioactive liquids, sludges and slurries created as waste by-products from the processing of spent nuclear fuel to extract enriched uranium and plutonium for bomb manufacture. Their liquid state, high level of radioactivity and the fact that they generally are stored in underground tanks (hence the term tank wastes), many of which are known to be leaking, makes their treatment and disposal all the more urgent. Despite its name, the book does not really discuss in any detail the final disposal of tank wastes. Of all the papers, only a few explicitly mention disposal of the wastes to a geological repository. The vast majority of the papers actually discuss pre-disposal treatment and solidification issues. What happens to the waste after they have been processed, minimized and solidified is an equally important issue and one that the book sadly fails to address.

• OSTI ID: 20014441
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
LIQUID WASTES
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
REMEDIAL ACTION
SLUDGES
STORAGE FACILITIES
UNDERGROUND STORAGE