Treatment of Irradiated Graphite – ‘From Core to Capture’

Irradiated graphite is one of the key challenges in decommissioning and radioactive waste management of UK and international legacy nuclear facilities. Graphite is a very bulky form of radioactive waste which is difficult to remove from the reactor core at the end of life. If it is removed from the core it represents a large, and hence expensive, waste stream for storage and subsequent burial. This disadvantage has led to the current strategy of leaving graphite "in-situ" in shut down reactors until waste facilities become available. This proposal relates to the underpinning and continued developemnt a new and innovative method of graphite management which would convert the graphite to carbon dioxide gas which could then be incorporated in a carbon capture and storage scheme. The small residue containing the majority of the radioactivity would be treated conventionally.