Wet Offgas Scrubbing for Radwaste Thermal Processing

摘要

Incineration development projects have been conducted at the US Department of Energy's Mound Facility for the past ten years with the goal of providing innovative, low-level radioactive waste volume reduction technology for government and industrial use. Because the waste streams for which the technologies are being developed typically generate high quantities of acid gases in the combustion process, a wet scrubbing system was selected as the best means of handling by-product offgases. Components making up the system are described. This system has proven capable of handling high temperature radwaste incinerator gases - adequately controlling heat, acids, fly ash particles, and major radionuclides. It is suggested that the most cited obstacle to wet offgas system use - the generation of a contaminated, aqueous by-product stream - may in many cases be less important than the benefits the system offers. 3 references, 1 figure, 3 tables. (ERA citation 10:000304)