1010 Development of Decommissioning and Radwaste Treatment Technology
Executing Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities and Treatment
and Disposal of Radioactive Waste
Support for revising
related regulations
Planning of disposal
facilities

Support for revising
regulations related todisposal of radioactive waste

Design for shallow landdisposal facilities

Waste

Treatment andstorage of radioactivewaste

Operation and maintenance packageof existing waste treatment
facilities (Advanced volume
reduction facilities, etc.)

Waste package
inspection

Construction of waste
treatment facilities ateach site

Clearance

Developmentof relevant
technologyWaste from dismantling

Decommissioning ofnuclear facilities

Decommissioning of aging nuclear facilities or nuclear
facilities that have completed their operations.
Consolidation/Reuse of facilities and equipment

Fig.10-1 Outline of measures for decommissioning and radioactive waste treatment/disposal
We are setting up systems for the purpose of decommissioning nuclear facilities and managing radioactive waste. In addition,
we are developing related technology (e.g., decommissioning, treatment, disposal), planning and constructing radioactive waste
treatment/disposal facilities, and providing support for the revision of related regulations.

Safe and efficient decommissioning of nuclear facilities
and radioactive waste treatment/disposal are two of ourmajor missions in advancing our research and development(R&D) activities. In these missions, we will be disposing ofradioactive waste generated not only by our research activities
but also by universities, institutes, industrial facilities, andother sites.
We are setting up systems for the decommissioning of
nuclear facilities and for managing radioactive waste, and also
developing the related technology (Fig.10-1).
Moreover, we are studying the application of our R&D
products to deal with the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power
Company, Incorporated Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear PowerStation.
R&D for Waste Treatment
In radioactive waste processing and disposal, it is importantto reduce the expense and to improve the safety of disposal.
Liquid waste, including low-level radioactive materials
resulting from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, is storedby the Japan Atomic Energy Agency and includes large
amounts of nitrate salts. Some liquid wastes are solidified
with cement, and the solidified cement form is disposed ofin an underground facility. Because nitrate salts are harmful

to human health, the total concentration of nitrate and nitrite
in environmental water and drinking water is required to beless than a standard value. A superior catalyst showing suchproperties as a high nitrate decomposition rate, decompositionof all nitrate ions, little by-product generation, and highdurability should be developed.
The catalyst we are developing was mixed in a sodium
nitrate solution, and the mixture was stirred and maintained
at a set temperature. We could decompose almost all thenitrate ions by slowly delivering hydradine monohydrate as a
reductant dropwise into the mixture (Topic 10-1).
R&D for Waste Disposal
The radioactivity in low-level radioactive wastes generated
during decommissioning of nuclear facilities should be
identified in order to dispose of the wastes.
The applicability of a capillary electrophoresis–laserinduced fluorescent detection method (CE-LIF) in thedevelopment of a rapid analytical method for actinides inradioactive wastes was studied. In this study, several typesof emissive probes with different chelating moieties weresynthesized and applied to CE-LIF. As a result, an acyclic
hexadentate probe achieved successful detection andseparation of americium and neptunium (Topic 10-2).
JAEA R&D Review 201397