Mochovce nuclear power plant (source: SME)
The Mochovce nuclear power plant is to become more eco-friendly as its operator, Slovenské Elektrárne (SE) plans to install a device to purify and process existing liquid radioactive waste.
“We want the limits for releasing the radionuclides into the environment to meet the requirements of the legislative change that is currently being prepared based on the rules of IAEA Safety Standard, GSR,” reads the SE’s statement, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
The planned investment is expected to result in a significant reduction of the volume of existing liquid radioactive waste to about 8 percent of the original volume. Moreover, the environmental risks resulting from storing the waste, as well as the operational costs should be lower.
“About 65 percent of the operational costs linked to treatment and storage of the radioactive waste should be saved,” SE added, as quoted by SITA.
The company will use the technologies developed by US company Advantech. It will enable them to process the radioactive liquid concentrates in a way that will separate the radioactive nuclides from the dissolved salts in the concentrate. The purified concentrate will then be dried and the product (a granulate) will be released into the environment, SITA reported.
