A Study on the Application of Ion Crystallization Technology to the APR 1400 Liquid Waste Management System

Abstract

The application of ion crystallization technology was considered as a way to increase the operating efficiency and improve the operating performance of a liquid waste management system (LWMS) in the Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR 1400). Although ion crystallization technology has not been practically applied to Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) until now, a previous experimental study demonstrated that it is possible to selectively remove at least 95% of various nuclide ions present in the liquid radioactive waste of NPPs. We reviewed the possibility of applying ion crystallization technology to the existing LWMS by applying the nuclide removal rate of ion crystallization technology and prepared a way to improve the existing LWMS in the APR 1400. Furthermore, we determined the optimized application location of ion crystallization technology in the existing LWMS by considering decontamination characteristics of the ion crystallization technology and the existing LWMS design features and operating experiences. The application of ion crystallization technology to the liquid waste collection tank, where liquid radioactive materials are collected, will have the least impact on the existing design while providing the greatest improvement. It is expected that the application of ion crystallization technology to the current APR 1400 or new NPPs would increase the operating efficiency of the LWMS and result in an improvement of system performance.