Pre-design of liquid radioactive waste treatment unit by adsorption with zeolite adsorbent.

Currently, Indonesia has been planning to build an Experimental Power Reactor (EPR) with a power of 10 MWth. The use of nuclear technology produces waste, among others in the form of liquid radioactive waste that requires processing. The existence of zeolite natural resources in Indonesia is quite abundant and the price is relatively cheap. Several studies have shown that zeolite can be used as an adsorbent for radioactive substances. This paper aims to obtain the pre-design of the liquid radioactive waste treatment unit and the treatment rate. The calculation basis used is secondary data in the form of the amount and characteristics of liquid radioactive waste (LRW) from 10 MWth EPR. Data processing includes the determination of the process, equipment specifications, layout design and economic evaluation. The results show that the initial waste is 2775 m³/year which has an activity of 9.02х10⁴ Bq/L after being processed into 2794.27 m³/year with an activity of 4.87х10³ Bq/L. This processing unit requires 3 units of cone roof tanks, 1 unit of Filter Press, 2 units of vessel adsorber, and 7 units of centrifugal pumps with an area of 900 m². The Liquid Radioactive Waste treatment unit with zeolite meets the requirements for the level of clearance and waste quality standards but produces secondary waste in the form of cake and used zeolite with a volume of 5.45 m³/year and 21.566 m³/year, respectively. Based on the economic evaluation of the pre-design, it was found that the rate of the waste treatment was Rp.2,339.56/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]