Advanced biological treatment of aqueous effluent from the nuclear fuel cycle
Many of the processing steps in the nuclear fuel cycle generate aqueous effluent streams bearing contaminants that can, because of their chemical or radiological properties, pose an environmental hazard. Concentration of such contaminants must be reduced to acceptable levels before the streams can be discharged to the environment. Two classes of contaminants, nitrates and heavy metals, are addressed in this study. Specific techniques aimed at the removal of nitrates and radioactive heavy metals by biological processes are being developed, tested, and demonstrated. Although cost comparisons between biological processes and current treatment methods will be presented, these comparisons may be misleading because biological processes yield environmentally better end results which are difficult to price. The fluidized-bed biological denitrification process is an environmentally acceptable and economically sound method for the disposal of nonreusable sources of nitrate effluents. A very high denitrification rate can be obtained in a FBR as the result of a high concentration of denitrification bacteria in the bioreactor and the stagewise operation resulting from plug flow in the reactor. The overall denitrification rate in an FBR ranges from 20- to 100-fold greater than that observed for an STR bioreactor. It has been shown that the system can be operated using Ca/sup 2 +/, Na/sup +/, or NH/sub 4//sup +/ cations at nitrate concentrations up to 1 g/liter without inhibition. Biological sorption of uranium and other radionuclides (particularly the actinides) from dilute aqueous waste streams shows considerable promise as a means of recovering these valuable resources and reducing the environmental impact, however, further development efforts are required.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-26
- OSTI ID:
- 5431854
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-800334-3; TRN: 80-007378
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. DOE environmental control symposium, Reston, VA, USA, 17 Mar 1980
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
DENITRIFICATION
LIQUID WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
METABOLISM
URANIUM
UPTAKE
BACTERIA
DIAGRAMS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLUIDIZED BED
GRAPHS
METALS
NITRATES
PSEUDOMONAS
RECYCLING
SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE
SORPTION
TABLES
ACTINIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DATA
DATA FORMS
ELEMENTS
FUNGI
INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT
MICROORGANISMS
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
SACCHAROMYCES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
YEASTS
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
550700 - Microbiology