Proposal for effective disposal options of very low level decommissioning waste

The safe decommissioning of nuclear power plants is one of the key issues in Korea due to the aging of NPPs. In this paper effective disposal options to dispose very low level decommissioning waste have been described through analysis of the silo for radioactive waste in several countries including Korea, specifically focused on disposal of the large component waste and other very low level waste generated from NPP decommissioning. As a result of the analysis, compact silo farm is proposed with two options: those are (1) ϕ22 × 23 m silo and (2) ϕ8.6 × 22 m silo. Each option has two disposal methods; one-piece disposal and disposal after volume reduction are considered as disposal method. Furthermore, arrangement of large component and the shape of silo are also proposed in this study. Only steam generator is considered to be disposed of as a large component because it can be categorized as very low level waste. In terms of disposal arrangement of steam generator, there are two ways: one-by-one disposal and disposal in pairs. To decrease the size of silo, both cylindrical and rectangular shapes are considered. In addition, the required number of silos and capacity are also estimated so that a comparison can be made between two options.