Method of treating radioactive waste
AssigneePebble Bed Modular Reactor (Proprietary) Limited
InventorsMichael Philip Hindley, Andrzej Leszek Kuczynski, Francis Pieter Van Ravenswaay
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Abstract
This invention relates to a method of treating irradiated material which includes reducing irradiated material to particulate form, suspending the particulate irradiated material, or derivatives thereof, in a fluid to form a suspension, and removing radioisotopes from the suspension by biological treatment.
Claims43
A method of treating irradiated material comprising,
- reducing irradiated material to particulate form to yield particulate irradiated material;
- suspending the particulate irradiated material, or derivatives thereof, in a fluid to form a suspension;
- reducing the size of the suspended particulate irradiated material;
- thereafter, removing radioisotopes from the suspension by separating the particulate irradiated material out of suspension,
- mixing the so-separated particulate irradiated material with water to yield a slurry, and
- biologically treating the slurry.
A method of treating irradiated material comprising, reducing irradiated material to particulate form by heating the irradiated material and applying a low temperature fluid to a surface of the heated material to yield particulate irradiated material;
- suspending the particulate irradiated material, or derivatives thereof, in a fluid to form a suspension;
- reducing the size of the suspended particulate irradiated material and
- thereafter, removing radioisotopes from the suspension by biological treatment.
A method of treating irradiated material comprising, reducing irradiated material to particulate form by cooling the irradiated material to a temperature of between −250 degrees Celsius and −270 degrees Celsius and thereafter rapidly heating the material to a temperature of between 180 degrees Celsius and 200 degrees Celsius, to yield particulate irradiated material;
- suspending the particulate irradiated material, or derivatives thereof, in a fluid to form a suspension;
- reducing the size of the suspended particulate irradiated material and
- thereafter, removing radioisotopes from the suspension by biological treatment.
A method of treating irradiated material comprising,
- reducing irradiated material to particulate form to yield particulate irradiated material,
- suspending the particulate irradiated material, or derivatives thereof, in a liquid by forming an emulsion of the particles in the liquid,
- reducing the size of the suspended particulate irradiated material and
- thereafter, removing radioisotopes from the emulsion by biological treatment.
A method of treating irradiated material comprising,
- reducing irradiated material to particulate form to yield particulate irradiated material;
- suspending the particulate irradiated material, or derivatives thereof, in a fluid to form a suspension;
- reducing the size of the suspended particulate irradiated material;
- removing radioisotopes from the suspension by directing the suspension along a flow path, deflecting radioisotopes from the suspension towards an isotope collection zone defined along a length of the flow path, and collecting isotopes in the isotope collection zone;
- and thereafter, removing radioisotopes from the suspension by biological treatment.
A method of treating irradiated material, which method includes the steps of reducing irradiated material to particulate form to yield particulate irradiated material;
- suspending the particulate irradiated material, or derivatives thereof, in a gas to form a gaseous suspension;
- dissolving the gaseous suspension in water to yield a slurry;
- and
- thereafter biologically treating a slurry, thereby to remove radioisotopes from the suspension.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.