The 12th International Conference on Environmental ... - Events

Abstracts Session 10-12
<strong>The</strong> SEA aims to provide a robust assessment of the environmental impacts of alternative strategies for providing continued
capability and capacity for the management and disposal of LLW in the UK. <strong>The</strong> assessment also considers other, more tactical,
issues around implementation of the strategy, for example: issues around the location of LLW management facilities; the environmental
impacts of alternative waste treatment options (metal recycling etc); considerations of alternative approaches to the classification
of radioactive waste and opportunities that would result.
Critical to the development of the SEA has been the involvement of statutory and non-statutory stakeholders, who have
informed both the output and the approach taken.
3) THE INVENTORY OF NUCLEAR LIABILITIES — A MISSION OF PUBLIC INTEREST - 16317
Christian Cosemans, Jacques Cantarella, Gerda Bal, ONDRAF/NIRAS (Belgium)
<strong>The</strong> safe management of a countrys radioactive substances in both the short and the long term implies a cost to its present society
and necessitates financial resources to cover these costs. Once they are needed, these financial resources may prove to be insufficient
or even completely lacking, leading to a nuclear liability. By virtue of article 9 of the Belgian law of <strong>12th</strong> December 1997,
the Belgian Government wishes to avoid the occurrence of such nuclear liabilities. This law charges ONDRAF/NIRAS, the Belgian
Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials with the mission to draw up a register of the localisation and the
state of all nuclear sites and all sites containing radioactive substances, to estimate the costs of their decommissioning and remediation,
to evaluate the existence and adequacy of the provisions for financing these future or current operations and to update the
resulting inventory of nuclear liabilities on a five-yearly basis.
This paper outlines the methodology put in place by ONDRAF/NIRAS to accomplish this assignment and highlights some of
the results of this exercise. It than focuses on the main recommendations ONDRAF/NIRAS made to the Belgian Government on
the field of avoiding potential nuclear liabilities.
4) FINANCIAL RISKS OF POST-CLOSURE CUSTODIAL CARE FOR THE BARNWELL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITY - 16155
Robert Baird, Washington Division, URS Corporation (USA);William Newberry, South Carolina Energy Office (USA)
This paper reports evaluations of the adequacy of the Barnwell Extended Care Fund in light of identified risks, with the conclusion
that the fund is sufficient to cover the costs and uncertainties associated with planned post-closure care of the Barnwell,
South Carolina low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. It reviews background information pertinent to the facilitys post-closure
monitoring and maintenance and describes financial responsibility for post-closure activities. It identifies and briefly characterizes
the activities planned to be conducted following facility closure and presents the mid-range estimate of planned post-closure
costs. <strong>The</strong> paper identifies and quantifies sources of uncertainty in activities and costs planned for post-closure care and presents
50-, 80-, and 95-percent confidence levels of planned costs. <strong>The</strong> fund is currently sufficient to cover some but not all of the costs
that might be incurred as a result of unplanned events. <strong>The</strong> paper identifies, characterizes, and quantifies unplanned events, possible
consequences, and probabilities of occurrence. <strong>The</strong> paper presents costs that might be incurred in responding to the unplanned
initiating events and identifies levels of confidence that the fund is adequate to cover such costs.
SESSION 11A - PANEL: YGN ROUNDTABLE “AN AUDIENCE WITH”...
ABSTRACTS NOT REQUIRED
SESSION 12 - POSTER SESSION: SPENT FUEL, FISSILE, TRU AND HLW MANAGEMENT
A) SELECTIVE UPTAKE OF PALLADIUM FROM HIGH-LEVEL LIQUID WASTES BY HYBRID
MICROCAPSULES ENCLOSED WITH INSOLUBLE FERROCYANIDES - 16382
Hitoshi Mimura, Takashi Sakakibara, Wu Yan, Yuichi Niibori,Toyko University (Japan);
Shin-ichi Koyama, Takashi Ohnishi, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (Japan)
<strong>The</strong> fine crystalline powders of KCuFC were immobilized with alginate gel polymers by sol-gel methods. <strong>The</strong> uptake properties
of KCuFC-microcapsules (KCuFC-MC) were examined by batch and column methods. <strong>The</strong> size of KCuFC-MC particle was
estimated to be about 1 mm in diameter, and KCuFC powders were uniformly dispersed in KCuFC-MC particles. <strong>The</strong> uptake rate
of Pd2+ for KCuFC-MC was attained within 3 d, and the uptake of Pd2+ was independent of the temperature and coexisting HNO3 concentration. As for the breakthrough properties of Pd2+ through the column packed with KCuFC-MC, breakpoint of 5% breakthrough
was enhanced with lowering of flow rate and independent of coexisting HNO3 concentration. <strong>The</strong> Pd2+ ions were selectively
adsorbed on KCuFC crystal phase, while other metal ions such as Ru(NO) 3+ and ZrO2+ ions on alginate phase. High uptake
percentage of 98.6 % was obtained by using the dissolved solutions of spent fuel from FBR-JOYO (119 GWd/t, JAEA). <strong>The</strong> alginate
film enclosing KZnFC was further prepared by using the support of cellulose filter paper, and Pd2+ ions were selectively
adsorbed on the KZnFC-MC film. <strong>The</strong> alginate film enclosing insoluble ferrocyanides is expected for the selective separation of
Pd2+ as an ion-exchange filter. Thus, the microcapsules enclosing insoluble ferrocyanides are effective for the selective separation
of Pd2+ from high-level liquid wastes (HLLWs).
B) UPTAKE OF 14C-ACETIC ACID BY RICE PLANT AS RELATED TO ROOT FUNCTION
AND MICROBIAL ACTIVITY ON THE ROOT SURFACE - 16111
Shinichi Ogiyama, National Institute of Radiological Sciences(Japan); Nobuyoshi Ishii,
Shigeo Uchida, National Institute of Radiological Sciences (Japan)
Experiments using rice plants (Oryza sativa L.) were conducted to examine uptake of 14C-acetic acid via the root and 14C behavior on the root surface. For hydroponics, three types of rice plants were cultured with 14C-acetic acid solution: complete plant,
half-rooted plant, and non-rooted plant. Also, for the root incubation experiment, sterilized root and non-sterilized root were incubated
with 14C-acetic acid solution. <strong>The</strong> 14C radioactivities in the plant parts and solution were measured. Non- and half-rooted
plant had 14C radioactivity in their aerial part, but the complete plant did not. <strong>The</strong> trends of radioactivity levels in the solution were
67