Reverse Osmosis Plant to Process CRNL Low Level Radioactive Liquid Wastes

Abstract

The Waste Treatment Centre being built at Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories (CRNL) contains a reverse osmosis (RO) section for processing 30,000 m³/a of dilute radioactive waste. The design, based on experimental work outlined here, incorporates three types of 110 modules. An ultrafiltration (UF) section removes all suspended solids from the feed which is then transferred to a spiral wound RO unit. The purified water from it is discharged, while the concentrate from both units is concentrated further in a tubular RO section. The final concentrate goes to another part of the plant for immobilization of the radioactive solids in bitumen.