National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan Presents Development in Radioactive Waste Management

How can the volume of radioactive waste be reduced and its subsequent storage made safer? This question is the focus of research conducted by the RSE NNC RK, presented in Tashkent at the Third Coordination Meeting on the Research Project «Research and Development Project on Improving Technologies for the Decommissioning of Legacy Nuclear Reactors Inherited from Previous Stages of Nuclear Activity».

Deputy Director General of the RSE NNC RK Erbolat Koyanbaev reported on the results of the development of a technology for processing liquid radioactive waste from the BN-350 reactor. Proposed approach involves converting the waste into a non-flowing state followed by compaction using powder metallurgy methods. This will significantly reduce its volume and simplify subsequent safe storage.

The meeting was held within the framework of an IAEA project dedicated to improving technologies for the decommissioning of nuclear reactors. Participants discussed research results, exchanged experience, and familiarized themselves with the experimental facilities of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Such joint projects help combine the scientific expertise of different countries and find practical solutions for the safe management of the legacy of previous stages of nuclear industry development.