The Kinectrics Universal Separation Process (USEP) was developed as an application to remove tritium and other radionuclides from highly-tritiated mixed liquid waste.
Process features and benefits::
- Removes all radionuclides in the mixed waste to below unconditional clearance limits permitting its disposal as conventional hazardous waste.
- Removes tritium from the hydrocarbon backbone.
- Avoids the need for cross-border shipments thus significantly reducing the complexity and cost for waste disposal.
- Environmentally friendly and ALARA compliant with no tritium release to the environment.
- Successfully demonstrated on several drums of highly tritiated oily mixed waste from a Canadian nuclear facility.
Key process steps:
- Removal of bulk tritium via dehydration
- Waste treatment using small quantities of commercially-available chemicals / sorbents followed by filtration
- Final disposal of processed water
- Small quantity of secondary waste disposed as solidified radioactive waste at a licensed nuclear facility