Research and development on waste management for the Fukushima Daiichi NPS by JAEA

Technologies for waste management of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (F1NPS) have been investigated. It is expected that the amount of wastes will be considerable. It is considered that F1NPS wastes were contaminated with radionuclides contained in spent fuel and with activation products, therefore the number of nuclides which needs to be considered in evaluating disposal safety is high. As a result, it is possible that the technologies selected will be different from those of the current wastes from nuclear reactors and fuel cycle facilities. The secondary waste from the accumulated water treatment, contaminated rubble and trees were analyzed, and the data obtained was provided for inventory evaluation. Demand on analytical data is strong, and sampling at the site and analysis have been continued. Storage safety of the secondary waste, especially for zeolite and sludge is under investigation. Investigation on conditioning and disposal was initiated, for survey on existing disposal concept assuming that both inventory and waste classification are uncertain. Different from usual methodology, these research and development activities should be conducted side-by-side.