Development of a practical decontamination procedure for uranium-contaminated concrete waste

Practical decontamination procedure and equipments have been developed to decontaminate uranium-contaminated concrete waste generated from a uranium conversion plant. The direct burning of mortar block coated with epoxy and then the mechanical removal of the burned surface reduces the amount of sludge by preventing the dissolution of whole cement paste in concrete block. And the removal of calcium from the concrete washing solution for the use of electrokinetic equipment decreases the volume of waste by a recycling of the solution. This improved decontamination procedure makes more than 70 % of concrete waste be self-disposed and remarkably reduces secondary radioactive waste.