Necsa template - IAEA

NECSA SOLID RADIOACTIVE
WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN
Regional Practical Workshop on the
Decommissioning of Radioactive
contaminated facilities
By:
TC Hlongwane
Manager :Solid Radioactive Waste Operations
24 August 2011
1

Table of contents
• Necsa radioactive Waste Management plan
• Objective of the plan
• Overview of nuclear safety
• Applicable legislation
• Sources of waste
• Quantities
• Hierachy of waste management options
• Radioactive waste management process
• Facility specific Solid radioactive Waste
• Interfacing of PDO/DO
• Reporting to the regulators
2

Background
• Nuclear Program started in 1948
• Radioactive waste generated on Necsa
site since 1960
• Nuclear Program terminated in the 1990’s
• Left Necsa with large historical radioactive
waste liability
3

The National Radioactive Waste
Management Policy and Strategy
(NRWMPS) approved by the DoE
requires generators of radioactive
waste to develop Radioactive
Waste Management Plans
4

Necsa Radioactive Waste Management
Plan
The Necsa Radioactive Waste Management
Plan (NRWMP) covers the total life cycle
of waste management, from generation to
institutional control over closed radioactive
waste disposal facilities
5

Objectives of the plan:
• Identify radioactive waste management
options
• Identify pre-disposal management steps
required for specific options
• Identified options to be evaluated and
BPEO (Best Practical Environmental
Option) determined
6

Overview of Nuclear Safety
1. Nuclear safety in RSA controlled by the ministry of
Energy and radioactive waste is a national
responsibility assigned to the Minister of Energy as per
Nuclear Energy Act.
2. Nuclear non proliferation , authority to store, reprocess
and dispose radioactive waste or irradiated fuel.
3. Necsa (authorized Nuclear Institution) to handle
radioactive waste for the government) within Nuclear
Liability Management Department.
4. Necsa other mandate is research and development in
nuclear energy and radiation sciences.
7

Overview of Nuclear Safety Cont
5 In terms of reprocessing, store and disposing
radioactive waste, the Minister must give approval.
6 There are currently two main regulatory authorities:
• National Nuclear Regulator all operations linked to
radiological isotopes and nuclear energy it includes
licensing and approval.
• Department of Health (radioactive material not at
nuclear installation or not part of the nuclear fuel cycle
e.g. fabricated radioactive sources, medical isotopes).
8

Overview of Nuclear Safety Cont
• DoH prescribed in accordance to Hazardous Substance
Act and regulations to Group IV Hazardous substance
that Necsa is responsible for the disposal of non nuclear
radioactive waste
• This include the receipt, storage, conditioning of waste
and Disused Sealed Sources for ultimate disposal at an
authorised Disposal site
• Currently no authorised disposal option of sealed
sources exist
• Any disposal of sources and waste need to be done in
an authorised disposal site approved by the NNR
9

Radioactive Waste Storage Facilities
10

NLM Mandate
• Management of ownerless waste on behalf of
the government. These responsibilities are
currently being expedited by Necsa (NLM) on
behalf of government.
11

Applicable Legislation Radioactive Waste
1. Nuclear Energy Act ( Act No 46 of 1999)
2. National Nuclear Regulator Act (Act No 47 of 1999)
3. Hazardous Substance Act (Act No 15 of 1973)
4. Mine Health and Safety Act (Act No 29 of 1996)
5. Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development act
(Act No 28 of 2002)
6. National Environment Management Act
(Act No 107 of 1998)
7. National Water Act (Act No 47 of 1999)
8. Dumping at Sea Control Act (Act No 73 of 1980)
9. Nuclear safeguards protocol (IAEA) or NPT
12

Sources of waste
The waste arising from historical, current and future operations:
• Nuclear Fuel Cycle
– Uranium Conversion (historical and future), Uranium Enrichment (historical and
future), Fuel Fabrication (historical and future), Fuel reprocessing (future),
Decommissioning (current), MTR (current)
• Supporting Facilities
– Laboratories, Research and Development, Hot cells, Maintenance
• Current Operations
– SAFARI 1, NTP (Production of Radionuclides), MTR – UCHEM
• External
– Health Care Waste , Industrial waste; Spent sealed radioactive sources,
Decommissioning Waste
13

Sources of Waste
14

Other Sources of Waste
15

Hierarchy of waste management options
– Clearance
– Authorized Re-use, recycle,
disposal/discharge
– Reprocessing
– Regulated Storage
– Regulated Disposal
16

Radioactive Waste Management
Process
Waste Generators
Commercial & Industrial
Generators
RADWASTE
GENERATION
WAC
PRE-TREATMENT
Radioactive Waste Management Process
WAR
PRE-TREATMENT
Pre-Disposal Waste Operator Disposal Operator
Pre-disposal Operations
TREATMENT
CONDITIONING
WAC
Waste Disposal
Operations
DISPOSAL
17

Predisposal Operations
Any radioactive waste management steps
carried out prior to disposal,
• Pre-treatment
• Treatment
• Conditioning
• Storage
• Characterisation
• Transport
18

Quantity of waste for the respective radioactive
waste classes on the Necsa site
Radioactive Waste Class Quantity of waste (m 3 )
High Level Waste
• 100
Intermediate Level Waste
• 25
Low Level Waste
• 16 000
Very Low Level Uranium Containing Bulk Waste
• 27 000
Very Short Lived Waste
•

Radioactive Waste Management Process
Cont.
Waste prevention and generation control
• In order to prevent the generation of waste and to keep waste volumes and activities
to the minimum practicable, appropriate design measures and operating practices .
• If waste generation can be prevented, there will be no need for the further
management thereof.
Pre-treatment
• Pre-treatment constitutes actions such as collection, segregation, chemical
adjustment and decontamination .
• The first operation in pre-treatment is to collect waste, then segregate it on the basis
of the waste stream’s physical state (Liquid, gaseous, solid) activity concentration
and total radioactivity. Radioactive waste is segregated to avoid mixing waste
streams.
• Short-lived radionuclides should not be mixed with waste containing long-lived
nuclides.
20

Radioactive Waste Management Process
Cont.
• Waste streams should preferably not be mixed due to different downstream
processing methodologies.
Treatment
Three basic treatment objectives in waste treatment are:
• Volume reduction. (incineration of combustible waste, compaction of solid waste,
disassembly of bulky waste components or equipment)
• Removal of radionuclides from the waste. (e.g. melting of contaminated metal
components, evaporation of liquid waste streams and filtration of gaseous waste
streams)
• Change of physical or chemical composition of the waste
21

Radioactive Waste Management Process
Cont.
Conditioning
• Conditioning consists of those operations that produce a waste package suitable for
handling, transport, storage or disposal.
• Prior to conditioning radioactive waste for storage or disposal, the pre-disposal
management waste acceptance requirements (WAR) and the disposal facility waste
acceptance criteria (WAC) have to be considered to ensure compliance with the
storage facility or disposal site requirements respectively.
Disposal
• The establishment of a National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (NRWMA)
is also addressed in [1]. The main responsibility of the NRWMA is the final disposal
of waste on a national basis (operation of the Vaalputs National Radioactive Waste
Disposal Site, and to site, design, construct and operate new radioactive waste
disposal facilities for other waste categories).
22

Transportation of Necsa waste to
Disposal Site
23

Transportation of Necsa waste to
Disposal Site
24

DISPOSAL ENDPOINTS
. It is therefore assumed that an endpoint for all waste categories will exist. The
following assumptions are made at this point with regard to the Necsa radioactive
waste (the waste is classified in accordance with the Necsa waste classification
scheme ):
– High Level Waste: No endpoint has as yet being decided upon on national level.
disposal will, however, form part of the waste management plan for this waste
class.
– Intermediate Level Waste (this may also include long-lived sealed radioactive
sources such as Ra-226 as well as Spent High Activity Sealed radioactive
Sources (SHARS)): Disposal in a greater confinement trench at the Vaalputs
National Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility .
25

DISPOSAL ENDPOINTS
– Low Level Solid Waste (this includes short-lived sealed radioactive sources with
limited activity): Disposal in a near-surface disposal facility. The Vaalputs
National Radioactive Waste Disposal Site is identified in as the endpoint for this
waste class.
– / clearance will be the final endpoint for this material (sealed sources with
– Very Low Level Uranium Containing Bulk Waste. Disposal on a mine tailings dam
or, with special authorization, disposal in engineered landfill facilities or surface
impoundments, general waste landfill facilities and hazardous chemical waste
disposal facilities.
26

Open Drum Contents
Radioactive waste
Disused Sealed
Radioactive Source
27

Radioactive Waste Characterisation
BNFL Scanner IQ3 Scanner
28

Facility specific Solid Radioactive Waste
Management Programmes
• Predisposal Operations (NLM) prescribes
the requirements for facility’s specific solid
radioactive waste management plan
29

Facility specific Solid Radioactive Waste
Management programmes Cont.
• Requirements:
Overview of type of waste generated and
waste management strategy
Waste management Organisation and
responsibility
Waste generation control strategy and
requirements
30

Facility specific Solid Radioactive Waste
Management programmes Cont.
Waste generation control strategy and
requirements (optimisation and
minimization requirements)
WAR/WAC applicable per category
Identification for waste considered for
clearance or authorised disposal
Solid Radioactive waste categories
31

Facility specific Solid Radioactive Waste
Management programmes Cont.
Waste category specific waste processing
requirements
ALARA objectives/continual
improvement/strategy and plan
Process qualification information
Quality Assurance and reporting
requirements
32

Necsa Waste Management Process
• Interactions/Responsibility :
1. Waste Generators
2. Predisposal Operator
3. Waste disposal Operator
4. Regulator
33

Interfacing of Predisposal Operator and
Disposal Operator (WAR/WAC)
• WAR – Waste Acceptance Requirements
before acceptance for further processing
by Predisposal Operations
• WAC – Waste Acceptance Criteria before
acceptance for final disposal by Vaalputs
(National Radioactive Waste Disposal
Institute)
34

Reporting requirements
• Submit Quarterly report to NNR on the
following info:
• Waste quantities generated, processed
and transferred per category
• Location of waste and level of processing
per category
• Waste description and quantity released
as cleared waste
35

Reporting requirements Cont.
• Waste description and quantity released
for authorised disposal
• Continual improvement objectives and
performance
• DoH is also submitted with Similar report
36

Questions
37

Thank You!!! 38