Treatment of liquid radioactive waste using microorganisms

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of managing liquid nitrate-containing radioactive waste. A fundamentally new method for preliminary treatment that allows one to decrease the volume of these waste based on denitrification or anaerobic nitrate respiration (reducing nitrates to molecular nitrogen) has been developed. Microorganisms isolated from repository radioactive waste that is resistant to high salinity and ionizing radiation were used in the work. Based on laboratory studies on denitrification in model solutions of liquid radioactive waste, a design for a denitrifying reactor was developed and its basic parameters were calculated.