A JOINT STRATEGY STUDY IS BEING PERFORMED TO ASSESS A NUMBER OF SCHEMES FOR THE TREATMENT, CONDITIONING, PACKAGING, INTERIM STORAGE, TRANSPORT AND DISPOSAL OF LWR WASTES ON THE BASIS OF ECONOMIC AND RADIOLOGICAL CRITERIA. IN THIS CONTEXT, TASK R&S AND KAH ARE CONTRIBUTING TOWARDS THE COSTING OF FIVE BASIC MANAGEMENT ROUTES AND THEIR VARIANTS EVOLVING FROM THE SENSITIVITY STUDIES.

THE SCOPE OF THE WORK IS TO ASSESS THE CAPITAL AND OPERATING COSTS OF THE VARIOUS UNIT OPERATIONS INCORPORATED INTO EACH BASIC MANAGEMENT SCHEME ON THE BASIS OF THE DETAILED PROCESS DESCRIPTIONS PROVIDED BY THE OTHER PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS. MOREOVER, THE PLANT AND TRANSPORT COSTS WILL BE ACTUALISED TO THE OPERATIONAL START-UP DATE OF THE PLANT UTILISING AN APPROPRIATE ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT METHOD, FINALLY YIELDING A COST PER UNIT VOLUME OF PRIMARY WASTE TREATED. THE COSTING OF THE WASTE DISPOSAL ITSELF DOES NOT FORM PART OF THE STUDY.

DURING THE SECOND PHASE OF THE WORK, TASK R&S AND KAH WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE SENSITIVITY STUDIES. THEIR AIM IS TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF DIFFERENT BASIC PARAMETERS (E G DISCHARGE LIMITS, PROCESS VARIABLES, DURATION OF INTERIM STORAGE, PLANT CAPACITY) ON THE OVERALL MANAGEMENT COSTS.
A joint strategy study was performed to assess a number of schemes for the treatment, conditioning, packaging, interim storage, transport and disposal of light water reactor wastes on the basis of economic and radiological criteria. The costing of the management routes evolved from this study.

General procedures were elaborated for determining, actualizing and scaling of plant and transport costs associated with the various schemes. An in depth analysis was performed for 3 pressure water reactor (PWR) waste manageent routes, whereas only some indicative data are reported for 2 boiling water reactor (BWR) waste schemes due to sparse input received.

An appreciable divergence in the plant costs of the PWR management routes was found (maximum cost ratio of about 1.6). This mainly originates from 4 unit operations, namely boron recycling and the treatment of the liquid, gaseous and dry solid wastes, and is caused by differences in the applied design criteria. The contribution of the transport costs is insignificant, remaining below 3% of the total waste management costs.
2.1. SCOPE OF THE PROGRAMME

2.2. COST EVALUATION
2.2.1. LIST OF POSSIBLE INTERMEDIATE MANAGEMENT STAGES
2.2.2 COST ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE
2.2.3 RESULTS
2.2.4 SENSITIVITY STUDIES