The HRA-SOLARIUM project: processing of historical waste on the Belgoprocess site (Belgium): project description and lessons learned after 3 years operations

Conference · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2007

OSTI ID:21156269

Cuchet, J M ^[1]; Luycx, P; Wathion, M; Willems, M ^[2]; De Goeyse, A; Braeckeveldt, M ^[3]

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1. BELGATOM, Avenue Ariane 4, B 1200 Brussels (Belgium)
2. BELGOPROCESS, Gravenstraat 73, B 2480 Dessel (Belgium)
3. NIRAS / ONDRAF, Avenue des Arts 14, B 1210 Brussels (Belgium)

At the end of the 80's, the Belgian State ordered an inventory of the liabilities of the Belgian nuclear programme, to be fully or partially financed by them. ONDRAF/NIRAS (National Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials) was entrusted with the management of the waste and the development of a programme for the clearance of the identified liabilities. One of these liabilities is the treatment and conditioning of some 200 m3 of widely varying high- and medium level waste. The gross volume of primary and secondary packages amounts to 2,600 m{sup 3}. As the waste is stored in vaults or in concrete shielding containers and no appropriate treating and conditioning facilities are in operation, the HRA/SOLARIUM project was launched. The bulk of these wastes, of which 95% are solids, the remainder consisting of mainly solidified liquids, have been produced between 1967 and 1988. They originate from various research programmes and reactor operation at the Belgian nuclear energy research centre SCK.CEN, isotope production, decontamination and dismantling operations. About 4,800 packages of various types are concerned and must be treated (standard steel barrels, special containers, shielded overpacks,... ); they contain medium-active wastes (solid or liquid), radium bearing or not, {beta}/{gamma} or {alpha}/{beta}/{gamma}, and special wastes (Al, spent resins, Na/Nak,...). The new HRA/SOLARIUM facilities, located on site 2 of Belgoprocess in Mol, have been commissioned in the 2. semester 2003. The paper describes the project itself and focuses on the lessons learned from first operation years. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5990 (United States); Technological Institute of the Royal Flemish Society of Engineers (TI-K VIV), Het Ingenieurshuis, Desguinlei 214, 2018 Antwerp (Belgium); Belgian Nuclear Society (BNS) - ASBL-VZW, c/o SCK-CEN, Avenue Hermann Debrouxlaan, 40 - B-1160 Brussels (Belgium)
• OSTI ID: 21156269
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CERIUM NITRIDES
CLEARANCE
CONCRETES
CONTAINERS
DECONTAMINATION
FISSILE MATERIALS
INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
ISOTOPE PRODUCTION
NUCLEAR LIABILITY
POTASSIUM ALLOYS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RADIUM
REACTOR OPERATION
SHIELDING
SODIUM ALLOYS
STEELS