Removal of Bulk Contaminants From Radioactive Waste Water at Bruce a Using a Clay Based Flocculent System

Abstract

Bruce Power’s Bruce Nuclear Generating Station “A”, located on Lake Huron, has a treatment system that processes all aqueous radioactive waste water originating from the station. This Active Liquid Waste Treatment System (ALWTS) consists of collection tanks for the collection of radioactive waste water, a Pre-Treatment System (PTS) for the removal of bulk contaminants and suspended solids, a Reverse Osmosis System (ROS) to remove dissolved solids, an Evaporation and Solidification System (ESS) to concentrate and immobilize solids contained in concentrated waste streams from the ROS, and discharge tanks for the dispersal of the treated water. The ALWTS has been in continuous service since 1999 and is used to treatapproximately 100,000 litres of Active Liquid Waste (ALW) each day. With the exception of tritium, it discharges waste water containing near zero concentrations of radioactive and conventional contaminants to the lake.

The original design of the Bruce A ALWTS used a Backwashable Filtration System (BFS) to provide solids free water to the ROS, as measured by the Silt Density Index (SDI). During commissioning, the BFS was not successful in backwashing the solids from the filter elements. For approximately one year, a temporary solution was implemented using a Disposable Filtration System (DFS). A cationic polymer was added upstream of the DFS to agglomerate the solids. The system proved to be highly unreliable. It was difficult to agglomerate solids in the waste stream containing high amounts of detergent. As a result, DFS consumption was high and verycostly. The SDI specification for the RO membrane was not always met, resulting in a quick decline of performance of the first stage ROS membranes in the treatment process. In addition, the excess cationic polymer in the RO feed caused the membranes to become fouled.

In-house station staff, together with personnel from Colloid Environmental Technologies (CETCO) Company, worked to develop and implement a clay-based flocculation Pre-Treatment System. In-service since late 2000, the system has been able to reliably treat a broad range of contaminants in the waste water before being sent to the downstream ROS. This clay-based system is unique in its application; it is able to remove bulk oil and grease, suspended solids, and metal contaminants in a waste stream that contains a high amount of surfactants originating from the laundering of plastic suits (personal protective equipment for working in radioactive environments) and other waste waters from the station. The treated water from the PTS consistently meets the strict requirements for subsequent treatment by the system RO membranes.

This paper describes the laboratory and pilot scale testing that led to the development of the process, as well as the full scale implementation of this unique Pre-Treatment System.