Figure-of-Merit Analysis and Cost Effectiveness of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Treatment Systems

摘要

Two studies were performed to assess low-level waste treatment systems that are available commercially for volume reduction and/or solidification. In the first, a Figure-of-Merit (FOM) decision analysis technique was used to evaluate fourteen low-level radioactive waste processing systems on their ability to treat power reactor wastes. The assessment of the various processing systems was accomplished using a five member task force. The systems were judged on eleven major criteria and twenty subcriteria. The system judged superior to all the others was compaction of dry wastes with liquid wastes and sludges being directly incorporated into concrete. This was also the lowest cost system. The controlled air incinerator was judged the preferred incineration process. The Werner-Pfleider bitumen extruder was the preferred liquid waste treatment system. In the second study, the cost economy of volume reduction measured in land disposal dollars was investigated. The greatest cost savings with volume reduction were realized with a BWR using a deep bed condensate polishing system; the least with a PWR with condensate polishing. For both BWR systems and PWRs without condensate cleanup, over 80% of the savings in land disposal dollars resulted from volume reduction of liquid waste streams (concentrated liquids and filter sludge). For a PWR with a condensate polishing system, which had the least cost effective system for volume reduction, about one-third of the savings resulting from incineration of spent resin and compactible trash was offset by the increased expense of casks required for transporting concentrated liquids which have undergone additional volume reduction. (ERA citation 07:045947)