EP0204634B1 - Verfahren und Einrichtung zum Behandeln von nichtorganischen festen Tritium enthaltenden Abfällen - Google Patents

Verfahren und Einrichtung zum Behandeln von nichtorganischen festen Tritium enthaltenden Abfällen Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0204634B1
EP0204634B1 EP19860401184 EP86401184A EP0204634B1 EP 0204634 B1 EP0204634 B1 EP 0204634B1 EP 19860401184 EP19860401184 EP 19860401184 EP 86401184 A EP86401184 A EP 86401184A EP 0204634 B1 EP0204634 B1 EP 0204634B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
waste
gases
detritiation
hydrogen
bringing
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Expired - Lifetime
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EP19860401184
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP0204634A1 (de
Inventor
Pierre Giroux
Michel Maj
Gilbert Theis
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Commissariat a lEnergie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives CEA
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Commissariat a lEnergie Atomique CEA
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G21—NUCLEAR PHYSICS; NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
    • G21F—PROTECTION AGAINST X-RADIATION, GAMMA RADIATION, CORPUSCULAR RADIATION OR PARTICLE BOMBARDMENT; TREATING RADIOACTIVELY CONTAMINATED MATERIAL; DECONTAMINATION ARRANGEMENTS THEREFOR
    • G21F9/00—Treating radioactively contaminated material; Decontamination arrangements therefor
    • G21F9/28—Treating solids
    • G21F9/30—Processing
    • G21F9/308—Processing by melting the waste
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G21—NUCLEAR PHYSICS; NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
    • G21F—PROTECTION AGAINST X-RADIATION, GAMMA RADIATION, CORPUSCULAR RADIATION OR PARTICLE BOMBARDMENT; TREATING RADIOACTIVELY CONTAMINATED MATERIAL; DECONTAMINATION ARRANGEMENTS THEREFOR
    • G21F9/00—Treating radioactively contaminated material; Decontamination arrangements therefor
    • G21F9/02—Treating gases

Definitions

  • the subject of the present invention is a method and a device for the treatment of non-organic solid waste having been in contact with tritium or having contained tritiated products.
  • document US Pat. No. 4,285,891 describes a method for removing fission gases such as tritium, krypton, xenon and iodine from an irradiated fuel.
  • an inert gas or mixture of inert gases containing hydrogen is passed in contact with the fuel in order to remove the tritium.
  • the inert gas or the mixture of inert gases alone, that is to say containing no hydrogen, is then passed through in order to remove the other products, the operation being carried out at a temperature above 1000 ° C. .
  • Document DE-A 2 434 876 also discloses a process for removing tritium and its compounds contained in a gas stream, in the. which the gas stream is passed through a reactor where it undergoes catalytic combustion to transform the tritium into tritiated water. The gas stream then passes over one or more dryers which retain water, including tritiated water.
  • the present invention specifically relates to a process for treating tritiated waste which is simple and easy to implement and which makes it possible to considerably reduce the tritium content of the treated parts. It also makes it possible to homogenize the residual content, which facilitates the measurement of this content.
  • hydroxogen used in the present description designates all the isotopes of this element, that is to say as well hydrogen as deuterium or tritium.
  • the oxidation of these elements therefore makes it possible to obtain either water, or heavy water, or tritiated water, or a mixture of the different molecular species.
  • the role of the molecular sieve is to retain the water molecules formed during contact with the oxidation catalyst, which makes it possible to trap, among other things, tritiated water. This is then subjected to further processing.
  • the airlock is in the form of a bell that can pivot relative to the tank.
  • the means for bringing the gases released during the melting to the detritiation unit comprise at least one pumping group connected to the tank of the furnace by a first pipe and to the detritiation unit. by a second pipe.
  • This pumping group can be a combination of primary pumps and / or secondary pumps. It must be particularly tight vis-à-vis the outside and contain the minimum of organic materials, in particular the minimum of lubricating oil or grease in the parts in contact with the fluid. This relates more particularly to gaseous tritium, tritiated water vapor and possibly tritiated hydrocarbons.
  • the availability sitive object of the invention first comprises an oven, bearing the general reference 2, placed inside a glove box 4.
  • This oven consists essentially of a tank 6 arranged horizontally and open at its upper part .
  • this tank is made of double-walled stainless steel and is cooled by a circulation of water.
  • a crucible 12 made of refractory material which contains the tritiated waste 14. These are heated by induction using a coil 16 when their nature allows. If it is aluminum waste, a graphite crucible can be used to achieve electromagnetic coupling. In this case, the temperature of the liquid mass is of the order of 900 ° C.
  • the liquid mass is at a temperature of the order of 1600 ° C.
  • graphite can be added to the waste in order to facilitate the realization of the electromagnetic coupling.
  • carbon can combine with iron to give a carbide with a lower melting point than stainless steel.
  • the tank 6 is closed by a vacuum valve 18, which is surmounted by an airlock 20 used for the introduction of the products to be treated.
  • the airlock 20 is in the form of a bell open downwards and which can pivot around an axis 22.
  • the airlock is thus movable between an open position 20a shown in lines mixed in the figure and a closed position 20b shown in solid lines.
  • a nacelle 13 containing the waste is introduced inside the airlock from below, when the latter is in the open position, thanks to a cable 24.
  • the mold is filled by pivoting the crucible 12.
  • a pipe 26 equipped with a valve 28 places the tank 6 of the oven in communication with a pumping assembly 30 which, in the example shown here, comprises a primary pump 32 and a secondary pump 34.
  • a pumping assembly 30 which, in the example shown here, comprises a primary pump 32 and a secondary pump 34.
  • These pumps allow on the one hand to create a vacuum inside the furnace and, on the other hand, to send the gases released during the melting of the waste 14 to the detritiation unit 36 which will be described later in the remainder of this text.
  • the primary pump 32 or the secondary pump 34 is used, depending on whether one wishes to obtain a more or less high vacuum. It is also possible to sweep the tank 6 with an appropriate gas, for example argon, hydrogen, dry air or helium.
  • a compressed gas bottle 17 placed outside of the glove box 4 and connected to the tank 6 by a pipe 19 while the pumping group 30 remains on the way in order to constantly extract the gases contained in the enclosure 6.
  • it can be maintained under a reduced pressure of the order of 300 millibars, or under a primary vacuum, the pressure being less than 1 millibar.
  • the pumping assembly 30 is connected to the detritiation assembly 36 by a pipe 38 fitted with a valve 40.
  • the pipe 38 opens into a container 42, which contains an oxidation catalyst 46 This may be, for example, a product from the Deoxo series marketed by the ENGELHARD Company.
  • a line 48 connects the container 42 to two containers 50 placed in parallel and each containing a molecular sieve 52.
  • the gases having passed through the detritiation assembly 36 and leaving at the bottom of the containers 50 are extracted through a line 54 connected to an extraction device.
  • a regeneration device 53 comprises a cold trap and a circulation pump. It allows a counter-current circulation of dry air in the molecular sieves. This is how the dry air goes from the regenerator 53 to the bottom of the containers 50, passes through the molecular sieves 52 from bottom to top and returns to the regenerator 53 by a pipe 57.
  • the line 48 is equipped with a heat exchanger 49 in order to cool the gases leaving the container 42 containing the oxidation catalyst 46.
  • the airlock is then emptied by means of the pumping group.
  • the vacuum valve is withdrawn and the airlock is in direct communication with the tank 6.
  • the basket 13 is then lowered inside the crucible 12.
  • the main advantage of the airlock is that it allows the successive introduction of several charges without. stop the heating means and without breaking the vacuum.
  • the waste to be treated when placed in bulk, occupies a significant volume since it is essentially containers, pipes, taps, valves, etc. When they are melted, the molten mass (and therefore the solid mass which will result from it after solidification) is much more compact and occupies only part of the volume of the crucible. This is why it is possible to carry out several loads during the same operation in order to completely fill the crucible 12.
  • the tank 6 of the oven is closed in a sealed manner by the vacuum valve. 18 and the vacuum still prevails inside the tank.
  • the nacelle itself melts with the waste and that it is therefore preferable to make it from a light and inexpensive material whose melting point is compatible with that of the waste to be treated.
  • the gases contained in the enclosure 6 are constantly released during the melting and are evacuated by the pumping group 30.
  • tritium is a gas and that l tritiated water vaporizes, this has the effect of removing most of the tritium or tritiated water absorbed in the waste.
  • the gases are sent, through the pipe 38, to the container 42. During their passage through this container, they are in contact with the oxidation catalyst 46, which has the effect of oxidizing the isotopes of hydrogen and in particular to transform tritium into tritiated water.
  • This tritiated water which is in the form of vapor, then passes along the pipe 48 and passes through the containers 50 which contain the molecular sieves 52. During the passage of the gases through these molecular sieves, these retain all the vapor of water, and therefore tritiated water which will then undergo a special treatment.
  • the method and the device which are the subject of the invention have particularly advantageous advantages, the main one of which is that they make it possible to obtain a metallic mass in which the level of tritium (and therefore the activity) has been considerably reduced. This is primarily due to the fact that most of the tritium was removed with the gases during the melting. On the other hand, the waste which initially occupied a large volume and had a large contact surface with air, is found, after fusion and solidification, in the form of a compact mass of small volume and having a contact surface. with little importance. As the degassing rate of the tritiated compounds is proportional to the surface, this rate is considerably reduced by the transformation of a mass of waste into a compact and homogeneous mass. In addition, while in the pipes, valves, containers from the dismantling of the factory, the contamination is extremely variable, the latter is homogeneous in the solid mass obtained after the fusion. We can therefore know the contamination rate by making a single measurement.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • High Energy & Nuclear Physics (AREA)
  • Processing Of Solid Wastes (AREA)
  • Catalysts (AREA)

Claims (7)

1. Verfahren zur Behandlung von festen und schmelzbaren, Tritium enthaltenden Abfällen, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß es die folgenden Schritte umfaßt:
- Schmelzenlassen der Abfälle (14) im Inneren einer Umhüllung (6), wobei ein Wasserstoffstrom in das Innere der Schmelze der Abfallmasse (14) eingeleitet wird, so daß ein Durchblasen von Wasserstoff in der Schmelze der Abfallmasse erfolgt, wobei der Wasserstoff sowie die in der Abfallmasse absorbierten Gase ständig aus der Umhüllung abgezogen werden, und
- Unterwerfung der abgezogenen Gase einer Behandlung zur Entfernung von Tritium, welche darin besteht, daß diese Gase in Kontakt mit einem Oxidationskatalysator gebracht werden, um den Wasserstoff in Wasserdampf zu transformieren und diesen Wasserdampf über eine Molekularfalle abzufangen.
2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Umhüllung (6) von einem Gasstrom durchspült wird.
3. Vorrichtung zur Behandlung von festen und schmelzbaren, Tritium enthaltenden Abfällen, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß sie umfaßt:
(1) einen Ofen zum Schmelzen der Abfälle (14), welcher aufweist:
- ein Gefäß (6) zur Aufnahme eines die Abfälle (14) enthaltenden Schmelztiegels (12),
- Mittel zum Heizen (16),
- ein das Gefäß (6) verschließendes Vakuumventil (18) und
- eine Schleuse (20) zum Einbringen der Abfälle, wobei diese Schleuse (20) zwischen einer Öffnungsstellung (20a) und einer Schließstellung (20b) verstellbar ist und über das Vakuumventil (18) von dem Gefäß (6) abgetrennt ist, wenn es sich in der Schließstellung befindet;
(2) Mittel zum Durchblasen von Wasserstoff in der Schmelze der Abfallmasse; (3) eine Anordnung zur Entfernung von Tritium
(36) aus den beim Schmelzen freigesetzten Gasen, welche aufweist:
- mindestens einen Rezipienten (42) mit einem Oxidationskatalysator (46) und
- mindestens einen Rezipienten (50) mit einer Molekularfalle (52); und
(4) Mittel (32, 34), um die beim Schmelzen freigesetzten Gase der Anordnung zum Entfernen von Tritium (36) zuzuführen.
4. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 3, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Schleuse (20) sich in Form einer Glocke darstellt, welche gegenüber dem genannten Gefäß (6) schwenkbar ist.
5. Vorrichtung nach einem der Ansprüche 3 und 4, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Mittel zum Zuführen der beim Schmelzen freigesetzten Gase zur Anordnung zur Entfernung von Tritium (36) mindestens eine Pumpe (32) umfassen, welche mit dem Gefäß (6) des Ofens (2) über eine erste Leitung (26) und mit der Anordnung zur Entfernung von Tritium (36) über eine zweite Leitung (38) verbunden ist.
6. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 5, dadurch ge- kennzeichnet, daß die Pumpe eine Primärpumpe (32) ist.
7. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 6, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß die Mittel zum Zuführen der beim Schmelzen freigesetzten Gase zur Anordnung zur Entfernung von Tritium (36) außerdem eine Sekundärpumpe (34) umfassen, welche mit der Primärpumpe (32) verbunden ist.
EP19860401184 1985-06-07 1986-06-03 Verfahren und Einrichtung zum Behandeln von nichtorganischen festen Tritium enthaltenden Abfällen Expired - Lifetime EP0204634B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR8508666A FR2583208B1 (fr) 1985-06-07 1985-06-07 Procede et dispositif pour le traitement de dechets trities solides non organiques
FR8508666 1985-06-07

Publications (2)

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EP0204634A1 EP0204634A1 (de) 1986-12-10
EP0204634B1 true EP0204634B1 (de) 1990-05-23

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EP19860401184 Expired - Lifetime EP0204634B1 (de) 1985-06-07 1986-06-03 Verfahren und Einrichtung zum Behandeln von nichtorganischen festen Tritium enthaltenden Abfällen

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EP (1) EP0204634B1 (de)
JP (1) JPS61284697A (de)
DE (1) DE3671563D1 (de)
ES (1) ES8801473A1 (de)
FR (1) FR2583208B1 (de)

Families Citing this family (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2620262B1 (fr) * 1987-09-09 1989-11-17 Commissariat Energie Atomique Procede et installation de traitement de dechets organiques solides contamines par du tritium
DE3930420C1 (en) * 1989-09-12 1990-11-22 Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Vertreten Durch Den Bundesminister Der Verteidigung, Dieser Vertreten Durch Den Praesidenten Des Bundesamtes Fuer Wehrtechnik Und Beschaffung, 5400 Koblenz, De Radioactive waste tritium sepn. - by flushing in gas flow with oxygen, heating and passing tritium through water
DE4029222C1 (en) * 1990-09-14 1991-08-22 Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Vertreten Durch Den Bundesminister Der Verteidigung, Dieser Vertreten Durch Den Praesidenten Des Bundesamtes Fuer Wehrtechnik Und Beschaffung, 5400 Koblenz, De Economical and efficient tritium sepn. - involves passing gas to molten electrodes to ionise molecules, wash tower for absorption and condensate prodn.
LU87907A1 (de) * 1991-03-13 1992-11-16 Euratom Verfahren zum aufarbeiten von absorberstaeben aus wassergekuehlten kernreaktoren
IT1400531B1 (it) * 2010-06-22 2013-06-11 Commissariat Energie Atomique Processo per la detriziazione di soft housekeeping waste e impianto relativo
FR2974444B1 (fr) * 2011-04-21 2015-11-27 Commissariat Energie Atomique Dispositif et procede de detritiation
FR3101558B1 (fr) 2019-10-03 2021-10-22 Onet Tech Cn Procédé pour décontaminer une pièce métallique contenant un gaz par irradiation laser dans un milieu liquide

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1096072A (en) * 1964-02-27 1967-12-20 Atomic Energy Authority Uk Improvements in or relating to incinerators
US4178350A (en) * 1973-08-27 1979-12-11 Engelhard Minerals & Chemicals Corp. Removal of tritium and tritium-containing compounds from a gaseous stream
US4285891A (en) * 1979-12-31 1981-08-25 Exxon Nuclear, Inc. Method of removing fission gases from irradiated fuel
DE3011602A1 (de) * 1980-03-26 1981-10-08 Kernforschungsanlage Jülich GmbH, 5170 Jülich Verfahren und vorrichtung zur endlagerung von tritium, insbesondere tritiumabfaellen aus kernkraftwerken, mit der moeglichkeit der tritiumrueckgewinnung

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Publication number Publication date
FR2583208B1 (fr) 1992-04-24
ES555832A0 (es) 1987-12-16
FR2583208A1 (fr) 1986-12-12
ES8801473A1 (es) 1987-12-16
EP0204634A1 (de) 1986-12-10
DE3671563D1 (de) 1990-06-28
JPS61284697A (ja) 1986-12-15

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