A Korean research institute and company have successfully commercialized the world's first technology to dramatically reduce radioactive concrete waste through collaboration.
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) announced on the 12th that it has won a contract from Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) for "cement and aggregate separation processing of concrete radioactive waste" together with Orbitec. This marks the world's first successful commercialization of radioactive concrete waste volume reduction technology.
Nuclear power plants generate large amounts of concrete waste contaminated with radioactive materials. During plant decommissioning, a minimum of several thousand drums (based on 200-liter capacity) per reactor are expected to be produced. Disposing of all this as radioactive waste without separate treatment would require extensive disposal site area and high costs.
Concrete is a major component of nuclear facilities and becomes contaminated with radioactive nuclides such as cobalt-60 during facility operation. These radioactive nuclides primarily exist in the porous cement portions rather than in the aggregate inside the concrete.
The research team led by Dr. Lee Geun-young at the Nuclear Facility Decontamination Technology Development Division previously developed the proprietary "heat-crushing treatment" technology. This process heats concrete waste under optimal conditions to soften hardite cement, then crushes it to effectively separate aggregate from cement.
By separating and disposing of only the contaminated cement, radioactive waste can be reduced to less than half, while uncontaminated aggregate can be treated as general waste. Applying this technology to the large volumes of concrete waste generated during nuclear plant decommissioning is expected to save hundreds of billions of won in disposal costs per reactor.
Orbitec, which jointly won the contract, is a company specializing in nuclear fields including radiation management and waste treatment. The company has been jointly developing radioactive concrete waste treatment technology with KAERI since 2017.
After signing a technology licensing agreement to transfer KAERI's proprietary technology in 2018, Orbitec has focused on developing commercial-scale equipment.
"This technology commercialization serves as a foundation for expansion not only in domestic nuclear plant decommissioning projects but also into global markets. We plan to pursue expansion of follow-up projects through successful completion," said Do Eun-sung, CEO of Orbitec.
This case is particularly significant as a success story spanning from independent development of domestic proprietary technology through technology transfer, joint industry-research development, to commercialization.
"We achieved the world's first commercialization of technology that even advanced overseas institutions failed to commercialize, through precise processes and complete secondary waste control," said Dr. Lee Geun-young, who led the research. "We expect this to become a success story where domestic proprietary technology leads to commercialization and solves radioactive waste problems."
