Regional Basic Professional Training Course in Korea

❙ 1027 ❙
20. Waste Management
These include trash (e.g. protective clothing and plastics, paper, cardboard, wood,
insulation materials), metal scrap, worn‐out devices, and air filters. A specific group with
regard to activity level and inventory is the components removed from the reactor core,
so called activated metal waste.
The classification of NPP operational waste depends on the stage of management. Prior
to treatment and conditioning, it is practicable to classify waste according to their physical
form, e.g. dry/wet waste, combustible/incombustible, compressible/incompressible and
dispersible/ non‐dispersible.
With regard to treatment, conditioning and storage, waste is usually classified as:
Low level waste, which can be handled without particular radiation protection
arrangements;
Intermediate level waste, which requires effective radiation protection
arrangements radiation shields or remote handling); and
High‐level waste, which requires cooling and very effective radiation protection
arrangements.
The approximate borderline between low and intermediate level waste is the
concentration of strong gamma emitters of 1 MBq/kg. In high‐level waste, the
concentration of strong gamma emitters is more than 10 GBq/kg. NPP operational waste
is generally of low or intermediate level. Only in activated metal waste the activity
concentration may exceed the limit for high‐level waste, but in a conditioned form even
this can normally be classified as intermediate level waste.
With regard to disposal, the classification of waste is generally based on its activity
concentration and on the lifetime of the activity, expressed in half‐lives of the dominating
nuclides. LILW is normally divided into two classes, short‐lived waste and long‐lived