THERAMIN conference on thermal treatment of radioactive waste
The PW IPT was represented at the recent EC THERAMIN (Thermal Treatment for Radioactive Waste Minimisation and Hazard Reduction) Project Conference at the Mechanics’ Institute, Manchester on 4th and 5th February 2020. Over 80 researchers and industrialists from 10 countries attended, including waste owners and supply chain organisations from the UK that were not involved in the project directly. PW IPT Core Team members Mark Cowper and Tom Fletcher attended on behalf of RWM and LLW Repository Ltd.
THERAMIN aimed to identify which wastes could benefit from thermal treatment, which treatment technologies were under development in participating countries, and how these could be combined to deliver a wide range of benefits, including significant volume reduction, waste passivation and destruction of organic materials. The project successfully demonstrated thermal treatment for active samples or inactive surrogates of a range of different low and intermediate level waste types. The resulting glass, slag, ceramic or ash products and conditioned products, were characterised to identify their physical and chemical properties and finally these data were considered in terms of their suitability for final disposition in a near-surface or geological disposal facility (depending on the varying national contexts).
The conference was hosted by the University of Sheffield, Galson Sciences Limited and the National Nuclear Laboratory (UK partners in the THERAMIN project) and the HADES Facility at the University of Sheffield, which was visited by delegates on Thursday 6th February.
A summary of the key findings from the conference is presented below and most of the presentation slides from the conference have been shared here: http://www.theramin-h2020.eu/downloads/THERAMIN%202020%20Conference%20presentations.pdf
This blog post is based on a short article drafted for Nuclear Future by Jenny Kent, Anthony Banford and Neil Hyatt. Please let Jenny know if you’d like any further information.
The THERAMIN project was carried out by a consortium of 12 partners representing a European-wide community of experts on thermal treatment technologies, radioactive waste management and disposal. The project included an advisory group of waste producers and management organisations to provide an end-user view. This project has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014-2018 under grant agreement No 755480. The work presented at the conference reflected the views of the authors and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of it.
