Attila Baksay

International Workshop on the Safe Disposal of Low Level Radioactive Waste

ASN Headquarters, Montrouge, France, 3-5.February 2015

History of LILW Management

1950s

1957

1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s

1956 1959

1976

1982

Budapest Research Reactor

1971

Budapest Training Reactor

Paks NPP

Solymár Isotope

Disposal Facility

Bátapáti

NRWR Ófalu

1990 1993

National

program

2008

2007 1998

Püspökszilágy

RWTDF

2012 2014

Estimated inventory of L/ILW

Institutional waste: 5040 m3

NPP operational waste:15000 m3

NPP decommissioning waste: 26000 m3

L/ILW

1230 TBq

Institutional

396 TBq

NPP operation

834 TBq NPP, Short – lived

810 TBq

NPP, Long – lived

24 TBq

Institutional,

Short – lived

359 TBq

Institutional,

Long – lived

37 TBq

L/ILW disposal facilities in Hungary

Radioactive Waste Treatment and Disposal Facility

(RWTDF), Püspökszilágy

Surface disposal facility, „Radon type”

Institutional radioactive waste and historical NPP originated waste

National Radioactive Waste Repository (NRWR),

Bátaapáti

Geological facility, granite host rock

L/ILW NPP originated waste only

Budapest

Paks NPP

NRWR

RWTDF

Institutional L/ILW

Management of the Institutional Waste

Radioactive Waste Treatment and Disposal Facility (RWTDF) was Commissioned in 1976

Near surface facility, clay with engineered barriers

Disposal capacity: 5040 m3

Storage rooms were put into operation in 2005

Waste Acceptance in RWTDF

A set of criteria was derived for final disposal in the early

2000s

Activity content

Leach ability limit of the waste form

Volume of void

Etc..

Acceptance does not mean accepting waste for final

disposal as it is, further treatment required

At the beginning of the operation of the RWTDF there

was no WAC

Safety upgrade of the RWTDF

1970’s design with the safety requirements of that time

Safety assessments identified long term risks

Safety upgrade program demonstration phase

2007-2009

to demonstrate the feasibility of the waste retrieval

Four vaults were opened, waste retrieved

3 non backfilled

1 with cement backfill

Safety upgrade is going to be applied for the whole site

Characterization of disposal vaults

Radiological features

Dose rate map, finding hot spots

Gas sampling Mass spectrometry

Isotope analytics

3H, 14C

Inventory

SSRSs

Biological waste (animal carcasses, etc.)

Bituminized waste

Hazardous waste

A11 A12 A13 A14

Volume of gas 10 10 10 10

3He(ppm) 0,24 0,026 0,029 0,016

calculated 3H

activity(GBq)

135,6 14,4 16,7 9,4

Elapsed time

(yrs)

26,4 26,4 25,4 25,6

Continuation of the safety upgrade

program

Goals of the intervention

Recharacterizing

and repackaging

legacy waste

Reduce the

inventory of the

long-lived isotopes

Having enough

capacity till the

planned operational

lifetime of RWTDF

L/ILW disposal practice for institutional /

legacy waste

Re- characterization and

repackaging legacy waste

Disposal with easy

retrievability in focus

NPP originated L/ILW

Site selection for NPP originated L/ILW

Result of a thorough site

selection process, started as a

National Project in 1993

1997: Detailed investigation

started near Bátaapáti

2003: Bátaapáti was suitable

from the geological point of view

2005: local referendum at

Bátaapáti:

75 % participation

91 % in favor

Disposal of NPP originated L/ILW

Surface facility of National Radioactive Waste Repository (NRWR) started its operation in 2008: 3000 drums can be stored

in temporary storage

First disposal chamber was put into operation in December 2012 Capacity: more than 4671

drums

Currently ~3200 drums are disposed

Changing disposal concept

Driving forces of the conceptual change

From NPP side

Lifetime extension of the NPP

Introduction of liquid waste treatment technology

Introducing new waste cementation technology

From PURAM side

Limited footprint of the repository

Improving efficiency of disposal

In 2010 NPP and PURAM working group proposed a new disposal concept

Time schedule of the conceptual change

Safe

ty

ass

essm

ents

Valu

e

engin

eeri

ng

Co

nst

ruct

ion

/

Op

erati

on

Forming the

new concept

Cementation

technology

Updating

Hydrogeology Preliminary

S.A.

Decision

support

S.A. for further

efficiency

S.A. for construction

license

I-K3, I-K4

Cementation facility

I-K2

S.A. for Operation

license of I-K2

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Des

ign

ing

Steel container Final design of CWP

Updated design of NRWR

Logistics

Introducing „compact” waste package

Radiological features of C.W.P.

Compact waste package

is mostly ILW

Structure is designed for

the needs of safe

disposal – minimizing

inactive material – not

IP2

Transport container is

going to be used

Evolution of the waste acceptance

system

200 l drums Control

system 1

C.W.P. Specific WAC 2 Control

system 2

Specific WAC 1 Waste package

specification 1

Waste package

specification 2

Regulatory

approval

Inventory of

WACs

Waste form n Specific WAC n Waste package

specification n

Control

system n

Control of the waste form – compact

waste package

Chemical properties of materials used in the waste treatment

Sample taken from storage tank after preparation and homogenization

activity measurements (α, β ,γ)

chemical properties of liquid waste

H3BO3, NO3, complex agents, metals

parameters (pH)

Independent control by PURAM γ emitters, 14C, 90Sr, 129I

Stability and density of cement

Improving efficiency of disposal

Disposal LLW in NRWR

Introducing of VLLW category

The estimated volume of this category about 50-60% of

L/ILW

Bulk of this volume is expected after decommissioning of

NPP

Options for disposal of VLLW:

On the site of decommissioned NPP

Extension of RWTDF

Filling void space of NRWR

Separated site

Work of introduction VLLW has been started, decision is

expected before shutting down units of NPP

Conclusion

No co-disposal of institutional waste and L/ILW

originated waste from NPP operation and

decommissioning

Safety upgrade has to be carried out in the RWTDF by

removing long-lived waste components and repackaging

acceptable waste

Ongoing optimization process in the NPP and PURAM

resulted a change of disposal concept in the NRWR

LLW waste can be disposed in the void

Licensing application of the operation for next chamber

will be issued in 2016

Introducing of VLLW category has been started

Thank you for your attention!