Nuclide separation technology and engineering application of radioactive oil for NPPs

Abstract

BackgroundRadioactive oil is one of the organic "difficult wastes" produced by the operation of nuclear power plants.PurposeThis study aims to develop a nuclide separation and treatment technology for radioactive waste oil and explore engineering application.MethodsFirst of all, a set of radioactive oil nuclide separation and purification treatment engineering equipments was developed and applied to obtain test samples collected from one NPP. Then a nuclide separation and purification process based on the oxidative aging method were developed. Finally, the high-purity germanium for nuclide γ spectrometer was employed to measure 58Co, 60Co, 54Mn, 110mAg, 137Cs, 134Cs, 124Sb, 125Sb, 59Fe, 95Zr, 95N, etc., γ nuclides, low background liquid scintillation counter was applied to the measurement of 3H and 14C, and high sensitive automatic liquid scintillation counter was used to measure 55Fe and 63Ni. Total α and total β were obtained by using low background α/β measuring instrument. [Results and Conclusions] The results show that the decontamination coefficient of the oxidative aging process reaches more than 2 orders of magnitude; the radioactive oil treated by the engineering device amounts to the clearance level, hence can be managed as ordinary hazardous waste. The additional dose that may be caused in the process of incineration (including transportation) for the treated radioactive oil is far below the dose limits, which meets the dosage guidelines for reuse, and is in line with waste minimization principles.

Keywords

• nuclear power plant
• radioactive oil
• nuclide separation
• engineering application