Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 September 2012
This work gives a detailed description of the important aspects of along-term Low-Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) degradation experiment,performed at Chalk River Laboratories (CRL). This experiment utilized actualLLRW. The wastes consist of unconditioned compacted refuse (paper, mopheads, paper towels, used clothing, etc), which represents the bulk of thewaste volume intended for near-surface disposal at CRL. Waste material wascollected and compacted to make a total of 11 bales for this experiment.Each bale was then placed and sealed in separate steel containers which wereconnected to sampling lines. After a dry monitoring period, water was addedto promote leaching and decomposition of the wastes. The leachate sampledhad a composition similar to landfill leachates. Some applications of thisexperiment, used to support the safety case of near-surface disposal, arebriefly discussed in this paper, e.g., the production of colloidal material,the nature and role of dissolved organics of microbial origin, etc.