Hiromi Tanabe and Kuniyoshi Hoshino

Abstract The earthquake and tsunami on March 11,2011, caused severe accidents at the several Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Units, and a significant volume of highly contaminated water was generated from the accident. Several methods have been applied to decontaminate the water, including systems from AREVA S. A. and Kurion, Inc., in addition to the SARRY (Simplified Active Water Retrieval and Recovery System) and ALPS [Advanced Liquid Processing System; incorporated in the MRRS (Multi Radionuclide Removal System)] systems from Toshiba Cor­poration. After the decontamination treatments using these systems, various kinds of sludge and spent adsorbents were generated as secondary wastes. These wastes are now tentatively stored at the site, but further treatment shall be applied to produce appropriate waste forms for interim storage and final disposal in a repository.

Waste management—the treatment, storage, transportation, and disposal of these wastes—is believed to require several decades. The authors examined how to manage these wastes in consideration of the large volume of waste, the variety of waste types, and the long period required to carry out their treatment and disposal in a safe and efficient manner. The requirements for an inventory list and online waste management system; a development strategy for waste treatment, storage, trans­port, and disposal; formation of an R&D implementation and evaluation team; and long-term knowledge management are discussed in this chapter.

Keywords Contaminated water • Disposal • Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Units • Inventory • Secondary waste • Treatment

H. Tanabe (*) • K. Hoshino

Radioactive Waste Management Funding and Research Center, 1-15-7, Tsukishima, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan e-mail: tanabe. hiromi@rwmc. or. jp

© The Author(s) 2015

K. Nakajima (ed.), Nuclear Back-end and Transmutation Technology for Waste Disposal, DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-55111-9_28

28.1 Introduction

A significant volume of highly contaminated water was generated from the accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Units. Several methods have been applied to decontaminate the water. After decontamination treatments using several systems developed by AREVA, Kurion, and Toshiba, various kinds of sludge and spent adsorbents were generated as secondary wastes. These wastes are now tentatively stored at the site, but further treatment shall be applied to produce appropriate waste forms for interim storage and final disposal in a repository. Management of these wastes is believed to take several decades. The authors examined how to manage these wastes in consideration of the large volume of waste, the variety of waste types, and the long period to carry out the treatment and disposal in a safe and efficient manner. The issues identified are discussed in the following sections.