ML20024D454
| ML20024D454 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 07/18/1983 |
| From: | Johnson T NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| To: | Lohaus P NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL SAFETY & SAFEGUARDS (NMSS) |
| References | |
| REF-WM-3 NUDOCS 8308050038 | |
| Download: ML20024D454 (9) | |
Text
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DISTRIBUfION JUL 181983 NMSS r/f WMLL r/f WM 412.1 '
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"O MEMORANDUM FOR:
Paul Lohaus, Section Leader-Low-Level Waste Licensing Branch FROM:
Timothy C. Johnson Low-Level Waste Licensing Branch
SUBJECT:
TRIP REPORT ON MEETING WITH THE IAEA AND VISIT TO FRENCH WM FACILITIES Enclosed is a copy of my trip report for my meetings with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna and with French personnel at Cadarache and at La Centre de la Manche.
These visits were made between June 6 and June 16, 1983.
Original signed BY Timothy C. Johnson Low-Level Waste Licensing Branch
Enclosure:
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IAEA CODE OF PRACTICE Date and Place: June 6-10, 1983, IAEA Offices, Vienna, Austria
Purpose:
The purpose of this meeting was to incorporate comments submitted by several governments on the " Provisional Code of Practice on Manage-ment of Radioactive Waste from Nuclear Power Plants."
Attendees:
See Attachment 1 Discussion The Code of Practice on Management of Radioactive Waste from Nuclear Power Plants is intended to provide developing nations with basic, general require-ments and considerations for managing radioactive wastes from nuclear power plants.
The document is not intended to provide detailed requirements. These details have been or will be provided in other IAEA documents.
Comments on the Provisional Code of Practice were submitted by 15 countries.
No comments were submitted by the United States.
These comments were reviewed and incorporated into a revised Code of Practice.
Comments received generally reflected a desire for more detailed information regarding the disposal of low-level wastes, particularly information on site selection.
More detailed guidance in this area has been provided or will be prepared in other IAEA documents.
l The revised Code of Practice is included as Attachment 2.
NRC Action Items:
None.
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CADARACHE Date and Place:
June 13, 1983, Cadarache Research Center, St. Paul lez Durance, France
Purpose:
The purpose of this meeting was to discuss with French Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA) personnel the status of the following programs:
a.
Bitumen solidification b.
Cement solidification c.
Volume reduction equipment d.
Ion exchange wastes e.
Power plant WM experience Attendees:
P. Pottier, CEA R. Arnal, CEA T. Johnson, NRC Discussion M. Paul Pottier is responsible for the waste characterization studies being performed by the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA). This work has been primarily in the area of bitumen solidified wastes from reprocessing operations.
However, M. Pottier is very knowledgeable in the waste characterization effort with polymers and cement and also with the WM operations at French power facilities.
M. Pottier began by outlining the complex organization of CEA WM activities and the pertinent subsidiaries such as ANDRA and COGEMA.
Bitumen Wastes In the area of bitumen waste systems, France continues to generate wastes which are solidified using bitumen.
These wastes result from reprocessing operations and consist of up to about 30 percent nitrates. While this exper-ience is not directly applicable to the wastes generated at power plants, the French experience in handling bitumen is of interest.
In the United States several asphalt systems will be on-line within 2 or 3 years.
5
Because of fire safety concerns with the nitrate wastes and the irradiation behavior and possible gas generation in bitumen, France is evaluating other solidification agents to determine if better alternatives are available.
These studies are primarily oriented to epoxy resins.
4 In September 1977 a fire in some bitumen wastes took place at Saclay.
These wastes contained both nitrates and a small amount of. iron, and process temperatures were allowed to reach 180 C.
Following this fire the French investigated how to prevent reoccurrences.
Following a large research effort it was determined that iron and nitrite loadings should be kept to less than 0.05 g/l and nitrate loadings should be less than 30 percent.
In addition, the process temperatures should be controlled such that waste temperatures do not exceed 150 C.
Under these conditions adverse chemical reactions have not been observed.
Current work on bituminous wastes includes storage facility studies.
These studies include fire tests on small-and full-size samples of simulated and cerium spiked wastes.
Measurements will be made on the cerium fraction which is released.
Simulated UP3 reprocessing wastes have been recently tested.
Cores indicate good homogeneity and no bacteria growth other than from denitrifying bacteria.
Additional biodegradation testing is being planned using C-14 tagged bitumen.
During leach testing of solidified resins 3-4 percent swelling was observed after 4 months.
Irradiation tests indicated significant swelling at 108 rads after exposure to a 108 R/hr gamma source.
Other tests at lower exposure rates I
(103 - 104 R/hr) have exhibited no swelling.
Some 200 1-size forms have shown significant deformation at room temperature under their own weight.
Compression strength tests show 6-12 Kg/cm (85-170 PSI) strengths at rupture (French 2
procedure NF.T.51.101).
Cement and Polymers The French currently solidify nuclear power plant wastes with cenent.
Since all nuclear power plants in France are PWRs, the wastes which are generated 6
are evaporator bottoms, resins, and trash.
Cladding hulls from the UP3A repro-cessing operations will also be encapsulated with cement.
Drums of trash are compacted at the La Manche disposal facility in a concrete liner and are encapsulated with a very free-flowing cement.
I observed sections of encap-sulated trash forms and was surprised at the completeness of solidification and lack of voids.
Polymer solidification agents, primarily epoxy resins, are under study in France as a replacement for bitumen and cement.
The testing on these waste forms is in its initial stages.
Volume Reduction (VR)
Compaction is the most common VR process in France.
Compaction equipment is used at individual facilities and at La Manche.
At Cadarache a cryogenic compaction device has been developed and has operated for several years.
VR factors of 4-5 are achieved.
The device is used pri-marily to break up Pu contaminated wastes into a form where Pu recovery is more effective.
This device, therefore, is not planned for use at power facilities.
Previous French experience with incinerators has not been good.
The most prevalent problems involve corrosion in the incinerator and offgas system.
The only incineration currently performed is on TBP solvents and chlorinated hydrocarbons.
Resins Resins are generated in power plant operations and in the Pu recovery operations at Cadarache.
For a 1 GWe nuclear power plant, 3-5 m3 of cleanup resins (0.5-1 Ci/1), 10-20 ma of 10 2 - 10 3 Ci/l resins and 10-25 ma of very low activity resins are generated.
These resins are currently solidified in cement, but obtaining the appropriate process control parameters has been difficult. A process to inject polystyrene into the dewatered resins has been 7
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developed (GNS process).
This process will be tested for use at plants in 1984 and 1985. A decision for using polyethylene, epoxy, VES, or cement for all-power plant wastes will be made in 1985.
Power Plant Experience Cement is currently used for all power plant wastes.
Boric acid is solidified.
in 2 m3 concrete liners and in drums.
Filter cartridges are encapsulated.
All power plant wastes are. shipped to La Manche for disposal.
Future plans involve the bulk transport of all wastes to a central solidifica-tion facility for processing.
The decision on the binder material to be used will be made in 1985.
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.'LA CENTRE DE LA MANCHE-
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Date and Place: June 16, 1983, ANDRA Facilities, Cherbourg Peninsula,.
France
Purpose:
The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the operation of and tour the French engineered' structure disposal facility at La Manche'.
Attendees:
G. Cornec/ANDRA
'M.
Raimond/ANDRA T. Johnson /NRC-Discussion The Agence Nationale Pour la Gestion des Dechets Radioactifs (ANDRA) is a subsidiary of the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique'(CEA) and is responsible for the disposal of the low-level radioactive wastes in France. ANDRA operates 3
the French low-level waste disposal site, La Centre de la Manche.
La Manche receives low-level wastes from nuclear power plants, C0GEMA activi-i ties, CEA reasearch activities, and from institutional and industrial generators.
Approximately 40-percent of the volume and 20 percent of the activity come from nuclear. power plant resins, evaporator bottoms, filters, and trash. - The-COGEMA fuel fabrication, reprocessing, and enrichment operations produce about:
30 percent of the waste volume and 50 percent of'the activity disposed of at La Manche. CEA research activities at various locations within France account for 20 percent of the waste volume and 20 percent of the activity.
Small institutional and industrial waste generators produce about 10 percent of the i
total La Manche waste volume and activity.
Waste accepta.nce criteria at La Manche are given in terms of the maximum permissible concentrations (MPCs) in water for individual nuclides in the l
wastes.
No greater than 104 MPC of alpha material,107 MPC of beta gamma material, and 106 MPC of cesium is acceptable for disposal.
These values l
are based on leach, migration, and storage tests and analyses.
All wastes l^
disposed of in La Manche are solidified or encapsulated prior to disposal.
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.La Manche' received about 22,000 m3 of waste in 1982. -This is a reduction in the waste disposed of from 1980 when 23,000 m were disposed. -This reduction 3
in volume.is due to better VR procedures-and administrative. actions and is more significant in light of the increase in the number of operating power plants
.in France over this period.
La Manche is an engineered structure facility which consists of a below grade monolithic disposal area and an above grade tumulus disposal area.
The mono-lithic disposal area is constructed by first pouring a reinforced concrete pad at the bottom of an excavated area.
On this pad are placed forms contain-ing steel reinforcing bars (approximately 10m x 10m x 10m).
Waste packages are placed into the forms and concrete poured around them forming a concrete monolith.
Between the concrete monoliths higher activity wastes are placed and encapsulated using the monoliths as additional shielding.
When the entire pad is covered with monolithic structure, a tumulus is con-structed using 2 m cylindrical cement blocks of wastes stacked to form walls.
Drums of solidified or encapsulated wastes are stacked between the walls.
When the 6 m high tumulus is filled, the voids are backfilled with gravel and about 3 m of clay are placed over the entire structure and vegetation is planted.
4 Two drainage systems are designed into the facility.
The first collects drainage from the tumulus and the monoliths.
The second collects surface runoff from the clay mounds.
Both systems are routed to sumps where sampling can be performed. The tumulus and monolith drainage is routed to the La Hague reprocessing plant where the liquids are treated by precipitation and floccu-lation.
The processed liquid is discharged if release criteria are met.
The surface runoff system is also discharged if release criteria are met.
To date H3 has been measured at 10 8 Ci/m, Cs137 3
at 10 5 Ci/m, and Sr80 at 3
10 7 Ci/m3 in the surface drainage.
Cs137 is in the 10 4 to 10 5 Ci/m3 range in the tumulus and monolith drainage system.
Concentrations of nonradioactive potassium, which leaches from the concrete structure, sometimes exceed the environmental limits.
3 J
While we have placed the burden of waste analysis on the waste generator,-
the French verify waste burial records by sampling and analyzing wastes at the disposal site.
This involves opening and coring solidified wastes on a periodic basis.
Analysis is performed for U, Tc88, Sr90, Cs137, Co80, Nis9, Nisa, Mns4, and Pu.
Workers at La Manche receive about 200-300.nrem/yr.
There are 60_ permanent people involved with waste handling and analysis and another 60 contractor personnel involved with nonnuclear activities.
When La Manche was first opened, disposal took place in shallow land burial trenches similar to those currently in use in the U.S.
In one trench Pu contaminated wastes were disposed of 13 years ago.
Recently, ANDRA decided to exhume these wastes, process, and repackage them.
No adverse occupational exposures have resultedsince the wastes have very low activities.
Occupa-tional exposures have been 300-400 mrem /yr for the exhumation operations.
Prior to exhumation, Pu migration was assessed.
No Pu was found in the soil 20 cm from the wastes.
Some tritium, however, has been observed to have migrated from these older trenches.
This experience has resulted in the conservative approach taken with the design of the engineered facility.
ANDRA charges its users only for the direct costs of disposal.
This would include waste handling, compaction, and disposal.
For monolith disposal ANDRA l
charges 6500 F/m3 ($25/fta) and for tumulus disposal the charge is 3500 F/m3 l
($13/fta). These charges do not reflect the administrative costs at ANDRA and the costs of new site development activities, the preparation of safety assessments, etc.
These costs are estimated to be two times the direct costs.
Therefore, total ANDRA costs are three times the direct costs.
Since ANDRA is a national organization, it makes no profit.
ANDRA expects that the above direct costs will double in the next 3 to 4 years.
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