Caesium and strontium in waste
Since June 2020, together with our cooperation partner, the Chair of Energy Process Engineering at the Institute for Process Engineering and Environmental Engineering of Dresden’s Technical University, bifa has been conducting research into the behaviour of caesium and strontium in waste during incineration and in the ash disposal.
To this end, incineration tests are being performed in the Centre for Energy Technology of TU Dresden, not only in a grate firing system but also in a fluidised bed firing system. Small quantities of non-radioactive caesium and strontium compounds are added to the municipal waste-like fuel. The fuel bed and fluidised bed ashes produced as well as fly ash samples are examined systematically in the bifa laboratories with regard to ash ageing and leachability. The objective is to determine the mineral phases containing caesium and strontium as well as the solubility of the elements, and in this way to acquire fundamental information for forecasting the long-term behaviour of these substances as the basis for a disposal strategy for contaminated waste in the event of nuclear accidents.
One of the methods applied corresponds to the approach developed by bifa for the waste legislation classification of bottom ash from household waste incineration, which is the basis of the practical guidelines of the IGAM and ITAD associations. The work is being undertaken on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit).
You want more information?
You are welcome to contact me:
Dr. Karsten Wambach
kwambach@bifa.de