NEWSLETTER
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

Nov. 2002

NO.9
Issued by
Japan Atomic
Industrial Forum, Inc.

• Sub-meeting on RW from Decommissioning

The FNCA 2002 W orkshop
on R WM to be heldat Daejeon this November• Sub-meeting on Waste Characterization

Wednesday, November 20
The 3rd day of Workshop• Technical visit for Yongwang NPS

The FNCA 2002 Workshop on Radioactive Waste

Thursday, November 21

Management (RWM) is scheduled to be held from
November 18 to 22, including technical tour to

The 4th day of Workshop

Yonggwang Nuclear Power Station.

• Sub-meeting on TENORM

The workshop will be hosted by Ministry of• SRSM reporting

Science and Technology (MOST) of Korea andFriday, November 22

Nuclear Environment Technology Institute (NETEC) of

Final day of Workshop

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co.,Ltd.(KHNP) as a

• Review of 3-year plan

local host, and the Ministry of Education, Culture,

Saturday, November 23

Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan, in

Departure of overseas participants for homecooperation with Japan Atomic Industrial Forum

countryInc.(JAIF).
In the upcoming workshop, each representative of
The persons in Charge of Workshop

FNCA countries report latest topics relating to RWM

Dr. Myung-Jae Songissues as country report.

FNCA RWM Project
Leader of Korea
General Manager, R&D Division
NETEC/KHNP

Round table discussions will be held, regarding
RWM consolidated report and 3-year plan.
There are the sub-meetings focused on RW from
Decommissioning, Waste Characterization,andTechnologically Enhanced Normal Occurring

Mr. Sang-Woon ShinRadioactive Material (TENORM).

Group Leader
Radwaste Treatment Research
Group
NETEC/KHNP

In addition, the result of Spent Radiation Sources
Management (SRSM) Task Group’s Activity will bereported to the workshop members.

Overall Schedule
Sunday, November 17

Dr. Hyung-Joon Kim
Manager
Policy Development TeamNETEC/KHNP

Arrival of overseas participants at Daejeon City

Monday, November 18
The 1st day of Workshop• Country Report etc.

Tuesday, November 19
The 2nd day of Workshop
1NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

meeting through an open exchange of the information

Topics from FNCA Countries

and experiences based on a common understanding
on critical issues is very useful in strengthening the
SRSM system in each country, and the result of thismeeting needs to be made for a practical use of the

Korea

other FNCA countries.
Dr. Myung-Jae SongIn conclusion, two actions were recommended to

RWM Project Leader
General Manager, R&D Division
Nuclear Environment Technology
Institute (NETEC)
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power
Co., Ltd (KHNP)

strengthen the SRSM system in each FNCA country
as follows:- Strengthening the linkages of the regulatory bodywith relevant national agencies concerned withthe radioactive waste management.
- Exchanging information and providing mutualtechnical support concerning the implementation

FNCA
FNCA2002
2002––SRSM
SRSMT
Task
askGroupGroupMeeting
Meetingof ICRP recommendations and IAEA BSS.
The FNCA 2002-SRSM (Spent Radiation Source

At the last day of the meeting, the technical visits

Management) task group meeting was held from 26

to NETEC’s pilot scale vitrification facility and Seoul

to 30 of August at NETEC in Daejeon, Korea. This

Asan Medical Center were made.

meeting was jointly hosted by NETEC and JAIF
(Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc.).
Three FNCA countries, Korea, Japan and Thailand,Japanparticipated this task group meeting. Delegates fromall participating FNCA countries presented andProf. Toshiso Kosako

discussed their experiences, lessons learned, status,

RWM Project Leader
Research Center for Nuclear
Science and Technology,
The University of Tokyo

international trend, and ways of cooperation on “Spent
Radiation Source Management (SRSM)” within the
FNCA framework. Therefore, all participants
recognized that the safe management for the spentradiation source is an important issue in promoting the

Mr. Minoru Ookoshi

peaceful utilization of radiation and radioisotopes for

General Manager
Waste Management Division No.1
Department of Decommissioning
and Waste Management
Japan Atomic Energy ResearchInstitute (JAERI)

improving human life quality.
At the meeting, it was agreed that the task group

Advanced
Advanced VVolume
olume Reduction
Reduction Facility
Facility inin thetheJAERIJAERI TTokaiokai Resear
Researchch Establishment
Establishment
The Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute(JAERI) is constructing a new waste treatment facility
in the Tokai Research Establishment since March in
FNCA 2002-SRSM Task Group Meeting August 26-30, 2002 Daejeon,Korea

1999. The facility is designed to gain high volume
2

NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

reduction ratio and the stability of waste form for low-

produced at the metal melting unit. Thus the amountlevel solid radioactive waste. The size of the facility isof secondary wastes is reduced by utilizing theabout 51 m-41 m with three floors over ground andmetallic wastes as receptacles. The receptacles are

one floor under ground. The waste treatment system

packaged in 200-liter drums after cooling. Off-gas

consists of a super compactor, a metal melting unit

cleaning system is shared in the incinerator and theand a non-metal melting unit.

plasma-melting furnace, and is equal to the systemconstitution of metal melting unit.

Compressible metal wastes from research reactors
are treated by the super compactor (see Fig.1). ThisWe will start the operation of the facility in the earlycompaction system consists of the diameter reductionof 2003. We can treat about 2,000 m3 of low-level solid

unit to compact the 200-liter drums in the diameter

wastes a year, which are stored on the site presently

direction with 200 ton and 520 ton force and the high-and generated newly so that the products can bepressure compaction unit to compact the drums in thedisposed of into a near surface disposal facility in the

direction of height with 2,000 ton force. Compacted

future.

pellets are filled into new 200-liter drums as close as
possible to the limit of the height. The processing
capacity is 50 drums a day.
Metal wastes except for compressible wastes aretreated by the metal melting unit of an induction
furnace (see Fig. 2). After melting, the metal wastes
are cast to receptacles, which are used at the nonmetal melting unit, by centrifugal casting apparatus, orcast to ingots. The processing capacity is 4 ton per

Fig. 1 Process Flow of Super Compactor

one batch a day. The volume reduction ratio of waste
is around 1/6. Off-gas from the furnace is purified
through off- gas cleaning system, which has ceramic
filters, HEPA filters, etc. and is released toatmosphere. As a measure for the control of dioxin
concentration, the off-gas cleaning system has anafter-burner which maintains the off-gas at atemperature of 1,100 degree Celsius, a gas cooler
which immediately cools the off-gas to 200 degree
Fig. 2 Process Flow of Metal Melting Unit

Celsius by spraying water and a dioxin filter.
The non-metal melting unit has an incinerator and aplasma melting furnace (see Fig. 3). Incombustible
wastes such as vinyl chlorides are incinerated by theincinerator first, so as to reduce a burden to the offgas cleaning system of the unit, and generated ash
and incombustible wastes such as concrete and glass
are melted by the plasma melting furnace. The
processing capacity is 4 ton a day by two batches.

Fig. 3 Process Flow of Non-metal Melting Unit

The volume reduction ratio of waste is around 1/3.
Molten slag is pored into the receptacles, which are3NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

proposed tertiary (reverse osmosis) treatment
plant. This waste will be dried and solidified, andAustraria

packaged to the waste acceptance criteria for the
Dr. John Harries

repository.

RWM Project Leader
Leader, Environmental
Radioactivity
Australia Nuclear Science andTechnology Organisation(ANSTO)• Treatment of liquid process wastes fromradiopharmaceutical production.
• Cementation of general low level solid wastes.
• Controlled oxidation of wastes (longer term).
• Facility for low level waste drum inspection, used

Mr. Lubi Dimitrorski

filter processing and general decontamination.

Head, Waste Operations &Technology Development
ANSTO• Testing and development of equipment andprocesses.
• Handling and packaging of intermediate levelsolid wastes as they are retrieved from storage
facilities at ANSTO.
Construction of this new facility is most timely. The
draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the

New Waste Treatment and Packaging Facility

proposed National Waste Repository has been

The construction of a new Waste Treatment andreleased by the Department of Education, Science &Packaging Facility has been completed at theTraining (DEST) (http://www.dest.gov.au/radwaste).

Australian Nuclear Scientific & Technology

One of the first and major uses of the new Waste

Organisation (ANSTO). The new facility was

Treatment and Packaging Facility will be to treat thecompleted in July 2002 and will be managed by the

low-level solid-waste presently stored on at theANSTO

ANSTO site so that it can be disposed of in the

Waste

Operations&

Technology

repository when it becomes operational.

Development Section.
The new facility provides ANSTO with a state of theart facility for the treatment and packaging ofradioactive wastes in readiness for transfer to the
proposed National Waste Repository (low level andshort-lived intermediate level solid wastes) and thefuture National Store (intermediate level solid wastes).
The facility is designed with a 600 m2 operations area
and an additional 400 m2, in two levels at the northernend of the building. The two level area includes blue
and white laboratories, a technical maintenance room,
offices,

conferenceroom,

controlroom,

display/viewing gallery and change room facilities.
The facility will be used for the treatment andpackaging of a number of waste types including solids
and liquids. Processes will include:• Evaporation of wastes concentrated fromtreatment of low-level liquid wastes from the4NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

island of Luzon while the third site is situated in the
Visayas island. The purpose of the investigation was

The Philippines

to verify, confirm and refine the results of the above
Ms. Eulinia M. Valdezcostated study based on actual field observation of land

RWM Project Leader
Head, Radiation Proection
Services
Philippine Nuclear ResearchInstitute (PNRI)

use, accessibility, topography, geology andhydrogeological features including peace and ordersituation. An ocular inspection criterion based onthese factors was developed for this purpose. These
factors were grouped into 3 major categories, i.e.
Social condition/access, On-site and access terrain,

On-SiteOn-Site Field
Field VVerification
erification andand Investigation
Investigation for
forand Hydrogeology assigning a weighted score value

aa Near
Near Surface
Surface Radioactive
Radioactive W
Waste
aste Disposal
Disposal ininof 40%, 30% and 30%, respectively.

thethe Philippines
Philippines

Two of the sites (one of the sites is shown in the

The siting process for the Philippine repository

picture) were confirmed to have very goodconsists of 2 major stages. Stage I - the Site Screening

environmental conditions. Thus, the previous scoresprocess consists mainly of desk compilation of existingand descriptions of associated factors for

information and data sourced from different government

environmental conditions were retained. The other siteand private agencies. Field investigations using

was found to be only about 25 km from an active

geological, hydrological and surface environment

volcano whose date of last eruption or known activity

methods are employed to verify, update and confirm

was in 1907 and only 2 km away from an active fault.

existing data. These reconnaissance field investigations
are carried out by performing selected airborne surveys
of candidate regions and areas supplemented by groundinvestigations, as appropriate. Stage II – the Site
Evaluation will proceed as soon as candidate areas
identified in the first stage warrants detailed surface andsubsurface investigations. This will finally include
locating and constructing boreholes and exploratory
shafts to allow characterization of underground surfaces.
Stage I activities generated maps showing thegeologic, hydrogeologic and environmental

Using the results of ocular inspection andconsiderations that were utilized in the siteverification, a comparative rating scheme was madeassessment process. The maps correspondagainst the results of the desktop studies. Field

essentially with the hilly to mountainous sections of theinvestigations done on two sites are generally incountry, which when overlayed would eliminate more

conformity with the previously conducted desktop

than 90% of the total land area in the country.

studies. The other site was not very promising due toFollowing the recommendation of the desktop study

its tectonic characteristics. However, it was observedon Site Characterization for Near Surface Disposal ofthat it possesses a favorable geo-environment. It wasRadioactive Waste that was completed in 2000, on-concluded that on-site field verification activities aresite field verification and investigation activities wereshown to be an effective methodology in deciding

undertaken in 3 selected potential sites that warrant

whether to pursue or forego further investigation offurther investigation. Two of the sites are located in thepotential sites for disposal purposes.
5NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

Since the Co-60 accident occured in Thailand in
February, 2000, the Co-6o source (420 Ci) had been

Thailandtemporarily kept in a stainless steel container under

Mr. Sutat Thiangtrongjit

water in the spent fuel storage pool (4.5 metre in

RWM Project Leader
Head , Radioactive Waste
Management Project
Office of Atoms for Peace (OAP)

depth) at OAEP.
For the safe management, a lead shieldedcontainer was designed under the recommendationfrom the IAEA, based on the Basic Safety Standard
and maufactured by a local company in Thailand.

Ms. Nanthavan
Chataraprachoom

The Co-60 conditioning operation was successfully
done during 6 - 7 September 2002 by the OAEP

Senior Nuclear Chemist
Radioactive Waste
Management ProjectOAP

working team. Now it was stored in a safe dry storage
facility at Radioactive Waste Management Division,
OAEP, Bangkok. The contact dose rate at the leadshielded container is 1.5 mSv/hr and 0.08 mSv/hr at
1 meter respectively.

Conditioning
Conditioning ofof Co-60
Co-60 Sour
Sourcece fr
fromom thetheRadiologicalRadiological Accident
Accident inin Thailand
Thailand

Malaysia

Office of Atomic Energy for Peace (OAEP) is the

Mr. Nik Maruzkee
Nik Ibrahim

central of radioactive waste management in Thailand.
All radioactive wastes including orphan sources and

RWM Project Leader
Senior Research Officer Divisionof Special Project
Malaysian Institute for Nuclear
Technology Research (MINT)

disused sources which can not be returned to
manufacturer have to be sent to OAEP for further
management and storage.

Practice
Practice Oriented
Oriented T
Training
raining Course
Course
in
in QM
QM of
of Radwaste
Radwaste
An IAEA group training course, Practice Oriented
Training on Quality Management of Radioactive Waste,
was held in Malaysia from August 5th to 16th 2002. 10
participants from 5 countries (China, Indonesia, Thailand,
Lead shielded container of Co-60

Philippines and Malaysia) attended the course. This is an
upgrade of the Demonstration on Predisposal Radioactive
Waste Management Methods and Procedures that has
been implemented by IAEA since 1996. The IAEA
Technical Officer for the course is Ms. Sophia S. T. Miaw.
The main purpose of the group training was to provide
training on various quality assurance practices andprocedures that are integrated to develop waste
management systems. The focus was on acceptable

The OAEP working teamlevels of quality assurance in predisposal waste
6NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

management practices consistent with a national waste
management strategy and international recommendations.

Vi e t n a mAmong the scope of the training are the quality aspects
Dr. Tran Kim Hungrelated to pretreatment, processing, storage,

RWM Project Leader
Director
Department of International
Relations and Planning
Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission(VAEC)

transportation and record keeping and documentation.
During the course, the participants were introduced to
RWMR software developed by IAEA for record keeping of
all type of radioactive waste. The participants wereactively involved in discussions during class and technicalexercises.

ResearResearchch on
on Applying
Applying thethe Safety
Safety Assessment
Assessment
Methodology
Methodology toto Near
Near Surface
Surface LL
LLWW
Disposal
Disposal Facilities
Facilities inin VVietnam
ietnam
According to the national energy strategy in
Vietnam up to 2020 years, the Vietnam Atomic Energy
Commission is carrying out a National Project titled“To Establish a Strategy Development of Nuclear
Power Plant in Vietnam”.
Practical on Compaction of Solid Waste

In this project, the problem of rad-waste
management has been given attention, especially thequestion of national disposal facilities for LLW and ILW
waste. Based on the content of the project, thespecialists in the field of rad-waste management are
applying the result of the IAEA coordinated research
project “Improving Long Term safety Assessment
Methodology for near surface Disposal Facilities

Measurement by Spectroscopy(ISAM)” to Vietnam condition.
Now we are taking necessary steps to participate in
the new IAEA ICRP Application of Safety Assessment
Methodologies for near surface Disposal Facilities(ASAM)- This Project will be started in November ofthis year. The ASAM project will consider practicalapplication of the ISAM safety assessment
methodology to proposed and existing near surface

Solid Waste Processing Area

View of Dalat LLW Storage/Disposal Facility

Classroom Exercise
7NEWSLETTER RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

apply Safety Assessment Methodologies to Vietnam

disposal facilities.

condition successfully.

We have been applying Safety Assessment
Methodologies for storage/disposal facilities at the
Nuclear Research Institute, Dalat. This repository has
eight concrete pits with design capacity about 900 m3.
After gaining knowledge and experience ourexperts will focus on applying methodology fornational planned disposal facilities in the areas suchas : site selection, establishing waste acceptancecriteria, designing and optimal engineered barriers...
We hope that with the fruitful cooperation in the

Research Group of Radwaste Management at NRI,
Dalat, Vietnam

framework of the IAEA and FNCA, we will be able toIntroduction of New RWM Project Leaders

ThailandChina
Dr. Zhang Jintao

Mr. Sutat Thiangtrongjit

Deputy Director General
Department of Safety,
Protection and Quality
China National Nuclear
Corporation (CNNC)

Head, Radioactive Waste
Management Project
Office of Atoms for Peace(OAP)

Dr. Zhang Jintao was nominated as a new Chinese RWM
Projector Leader.

Mr. Sutat Thinangtrongjit was nominated as a new Thai RWM
Project Leader.

Predecessor: Mr. Qiao Shurong

Predecessor: Mr. Banchong Wangcharoenroong

Indonesia
Dr. Asmedi Suripto
Asia cooperation Center
Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc.
2-13 Shiba-daimon 1-chome, Minato-ku
Tokyo 105-8605 Japan
Tel:+81-3-5777-0753 Fax:+81-3-5777-0757

Director
Radioactive Waste Management
Development Center (RWMDC)
National Nuclear Energy Agency(BATAN)Dr. Asmedi Suripto was nominated as a new RWM Project
Leader of Indonesia.

Website of JAIF http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/
Website of FNCA http://www.fnca.or.jp/english/

Predecessor: Mr. Gunandjar
This Newsletter is issued by the Japan Atomic Industrial
Forum Inc.(JAIF) under the contract of the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology(MEXT).

8