Sort of radwaste from nuclear power plants

Categorization of radwaste from nuclear power plants according to its origin

   
According to its origin, radwaste from nuclear power plant can be categorized as operational waste and waste produced during plant decommissioning. Nuclear power plant with four VVER-440 reactors produces 130 up to 180 m3 of solid and approximately 500 m3 of liquid low- and medium-level active radwaste annually, i.e., within 30 years of operation it is app. 3900 up to 5400 m3 of solid and app. 15000 m3 of liquid radwaste. To this amount it needs to be added more than 14 thousands of assemblies of spent nuclear fuel which represents about 3000 ton. During plant operation itself in the course of 30 years considered, more than 150 ton of high-level active operational radwaste is generated.    

  
For radwaste managed during plant decommissioning, it is possible to roughly state that the amount of low- and medium-level radwaste from these activities will be of the same order of magnitude as from the whole period of plant operation. The amount of high-level active radwaste will be by an order of magnitude higher than during plant operation. This radwaste represents mainly the high-level active components of the reactor itself. It is estimated that from a single VVER-440 reactor, there will be about 400 ton of high-level active radwaste, mainly the activated material of reactor pressure vessel and in-core parts.

   
There is another principle categorization of radioactive waste according to its origin. The radwaste is divided as primary and secondary radwaste. The primary radwaste is a waste in its primary form, i.e., all activated and contaminated plant components. The secondary radwaste is then the product of primary radwaste conditioning.