Conditioning of radioactive waste for long-term interim storage

There are currently 4800 drums of treated radioactive waste originating fro m the operation and subsequent decommissioning of Siemens' former nuclear f uel fabrication plant in Hanau (Siemens RE) that are in interim storage at two sites in Germany. Some of this waste is in an interim store at the Karl sruhe Research Center operated by its Decontamination Division (HDB). The s tore also contains around 30,000 drums of radwaste from the research center itself as well as local institutions. Germany's Federal Government anticip ates that interim storage will be necessary for a further 30 years until a suitable final repository goes into operation. However, since the waste dru ms were not designed for such a long period of storage, other steps must no w be taken to ensure safe interim storage in the long term. The objective i s to condition the existing waste drums as well as future waste arisings in accordance with the 1989 regulatory guideline on non-heat-generating radio active waste such that they satisfy the acceptance criteria applicable sinc e 1995 for final disposal at the Konrad repository. The drums al-e to be im mobilized in concrete inside Konrad containers designed for long-term corro sion resistance in order to obtain waste packages that can be safely stored for a prolonged period without maintenance. If the activity limit for the container is not reached, low-level waste can be added as an aggregate to t he concrete, which occupies around half the volume of each container, in or der to save storage capacity at the repository. This waste conditioning, to be performed at HDB and Siemens RE, will convert around 65% of all non-hea t-generating waste in Germany to a form that is suitable for final storage and is maintenance-free.