Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
6/20/2014
The United Kingdom’s National Nuclear Laboratory signed an agreement this week to work more closely with Studsvik UK Limited and FriGeo AB on the development and application of a freezing technology. The technology could potentially have an application across different radioactive waste management strategies, including sampling and decommissioning, to deal with challenges associated with dredging and drying of sludges and associated wet material. “Decommissioning of nuclear facilities can be a long, costly and technically challenging process. As a result there is tremendous opportunity to bring new and innovative technology to help support this mission,” NNL’s Deputy Director for Waste Management and Decommissioning Myrian Wood said in a statement. “We believe that this freezing technique is one such technology with a significant potential to deliver cost savings for customers across the world’s nuclear industry. NNL are looking forward to working closely with Studsvik and FriGeo to take this technology forward.”
According to NNL spokesman Adrian Bull, the technology presents opportunities to improve nuclear waste handling. In regards to sampling, the technique allows less disruptive sampling, so it allows for a more accurate determination of what’s there, Bull said. “It is also precise (in that you can select a depth and control the volume sampled) and its non-selective, i.e. it’ll take a sample of everything including any associated small items of debris, which is useful in providing a true picture of what the material being sampled is actually composed of,” Bull said in an email. From a decommissioning angle, the freezing technology could benefit access to areas where retrieval was unavailable previously. “For decommissioning, the technique allows a number of advantages – the same as for sampling plus the ability to design a freeze head to fit specific requirements and potentially access areas otherwise unavailable to other retrieval systems (our expectation is that this will be of particular interest to doing secondary retrievals after the bulk retrieval has been carried out),” Bull said. “It also permits minimization of secondary waste as only the waste and associated water are retrieved – this offers advantages in transport and disposal costs. Furthermore it is also possible, through dewatering, to carry out some waste segregation with associated benefits.”
The Collaboration Agreement is meant to utilize the three parties’ capabilities to bring the technology to market. The NNL release particularly cited Sellafield and the U.S. Department of Energy sites as potential beneficiaries of the technology. A technology demonstration day will be held at NNL’s Workington Laboratory in September of 2014, where any interested companies or individuals can come and observe the technology first hand in a controlled environment, the NNL said.
