Superficial decontamination of radioactive metallic waste

Nuclear Decommissioning activities generate a lot of radioactive metallic waste that/which, opportunely treated, can be reused in the industry. In this laboratory experiment, you can directly experience a procedure that is used for the superficial decontamination of metallic scraps, with the final release of the metallic materials and the conditioning of the contamination, minimizing the secondary waste.

The experiment is divided into four main steps: 1) the dissolution of the contaminated superficial layer of metallic scraps, 2) the oxidation of the ferrous solution obtained to properly precipitate the dissolved radioactive contaminants by 3) the electrochemical precipitation step into iron phosphate sludge and finally 4) the vitrification of the radioactive sludge in a durable glass wasteform.

The user will:

• be able to understand the problem of the big quantity and variety of contaminated metallic waste generated in decommissioning activities;
• realize the need in developing decontamination technology for such metallic waste;
• understand the basic physico-chemical principles of the procedure applied for superficial decontamination of metallic waste;
• realize that the process enables to reduce the final waste volume, to recycle the biggest part/bulk of metallic materials and to limit the production of secondary waste;
• understand how to perform this experiment safely (dissolution, precipitation…).

This scenario is composed of five main Quests, namely:

1. Picling Experiment Set-up
2. Pickling Experiment
3. Oxidation Process
4. Electrochemical Precipitation
5. Conditioning of the Radioactive Contamination

At the beggining of each quest, you will find the theoretical introduction. Please read it before doing the experiment: it contains very useful information! In the Work in Lab section you can find some useful tips on how to proceed.