Method and apparatus for processing contaminated wash water
AssigneeLicentia Patent-Verwaltungs-G.m.b.H.
InventorsOthmar Meichsner, Horst Queiser
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Contaminated wash water in nuclear plants are processed by mixing the wash waters with ion exchange resins to form a suspension and then feeding the resulting suspension to a filter.
Claims27
A method for processing contaminated waste wash waters developed in a nuclear plant and containing radioactive solid substances and radioactive ionically bound dissolved substances, said nuclear plant having a resin-bead ion exchange filter, an evaporator concentrator, a powdered resin ion exchange filter which forms used ion exchange powder resin which can no longer be used in a straight-through operation and which is not completely exhausted as yet, and a wash-water column for the contaminated waste wash waters, said nuclear plant forming radioactive concentrate from which liquid is removed, the concentrate comprising (a) radioactive concentrate from the resin-bead ion exchange filter, (b) radioactive concentrate from the evaporation concentrator and (c) radioactive concentrate having particles of a size smaller than that of resin beads in the resin-bead ion exchange filter and having a salt content less than that of (b), and wherein a mixture of concentrate (a) and concentrate (c) is dewatered by filtering in a filter-cake-producing filter and dried, the improvement comprising mixing the contaminated wash waters with said used ion exchange powder resin in a mixing vessel to form a suspension and remove ionically bound radioactive substances dissolved in the wash water and then feeding the resulting suspension into the filter-cake-producing filter to remove radioactive solid substances from the suspension.
Apparatus for processing contaminated waste wash water in nuclear systems comprising at least one mixing vessel for receiving the contaminated wash waters, a first line connected to the vessel for feeding the contaminated wash water to the vessel, a second line connected to the vessel for feeding ion exchange resins to the vessel, a discharge opening in said vessel, a filter cake producing filter, a third line connecting the discharge opening with the filter, and further including:
- a system for treating various radioactive residues having a liquid component, said system having (1) an evaporation concentrator which produces radioactive residues, (2) resin bead ion exchange filters which produce radioactive residues, and (3) at least one further separating stage which produces radioactive residues and which is a mechanical filter stage, a settling tank stage or a powdered resin ion exchange filter stage,
- means for mixing the residues from the resin bead ion exchange filters with the residues from the further separating stage to form a mixture,
- means for feeding the mixture to the filter cake producing filter;
- and
- means for transporting the residues from the evaporation concentrator directly into transport and storage vessels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.