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The generation of radioactive wastes is the direct result<br />
of activities inherent to the operation, maintenance<br />
and dismantling of Nuclear Facilities, and to<br />
a lesser extent of Radioactive Facilities. One of the<br />
main producers of LILW are the Nuclear Power<br />
Plants, at which waste generation is the result fundamentally<br />
of processes such as the decontamination,<br />
cleaning or maintenance of the different systems associated<br />
with the operation of the reactor, the objective<br />
being to improve the working environment in<br />
the different areas of such facilities, reducing radiation<br />
levels to values compatible with the normal<br />
operating activities.<br />
The potentially hazardous nature of these wastes<br />
that prevents their being released to the environment<br />
implies the need to establish action protocols<br />
regarding methodologies applicable to their confinement<br />
as stable products and guaranteeing their<br />
adequate management at all times.<br />
Numerous variables are involved in defining these<br />
protocols, knowledge of which is fundamental for<br />
decision-making in relation to the assessment of different<br />
types of waste conditioning. Depending on<br />
the system and the nature of the material used by<br />
the facilities for the aforementioned processes of de-<br />
LILW<br />
Abstract<br />
contamination and cleaning, the composition and<br />
radioactive content of the waste produced may vary<br />
significantly, this implying different types of conditioning<br />
and different characteristics of the resulting<br />
waste package.<br />
Furthermore, in view of their significant quantitative<br />
contribution, due to the important volumes generated,<br />
a wide range of radioactive wastes needs to<br />
be considered, apart from those arising at operating<br />
nuclear power plants and, to a much lesser extent,<br />
at radioactive facilities. These include the wastes resulting<br />
from the dismantling of nuclear facilities,<br />
arising not only from decontamination processes but<br />
also from the disassembly of the plant itself, the volumes<br />
of which may be significant within the overall<br />
inventory of LILW.<br />
The wastes from radioactive facilities consist mainly<br />
of heterogeneous solids, radioactive sources and liquids<br />
that require conditioning at the El Cabril Disposal<br />
Facility.<br />
This report describes the methodologies developed<br />
by ENRESA for quantification of the activity of the<br />
isotopes present in low and intermediate level radioactive<br />
waste (LILW) packages. These are summarised<br />
below:<br />
¿?<br />
Radiochemistry<br />
Co-60<br />
Cs-137<br />
Figure 1<br />
3
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