China's current nuclear wastewater treatment technologies are: curing treatment, evaporation treatment, chemical treatment.
1, solidification treatment: the radionuclides in nuclear wastewater will be solidified into a solid and buried deep underground.
2, evaporation treatment: the nuclear wastewater in the water evaporated, leaving solid waste.
3, chemical treatment: the use of chemical methods to remove radionuclides in nuclear wastewater, of which chemical treatment is currently the most effective nuclear wastewater treatment technology. China has made significant progress in chemical treatment of nuclear wastewater, and has built many sets of nuclear wastewater treatment devices and successfully treated a large amount of nuclear wastewater. In 2022, China successfully built a million-ton nuclear wastewater treatment demonstration project in Qinghai Province, which adopts advanced chemical treatment technology and is able to remove more than 99.9% of radionuclides from nuclear wastewater.
Generation of nuclear wastewater
There are two main sources of nuclear wastewater: nuclear power plants and nuclear energy facilities. In nuclear power plants, nuclear wastewater is generated from the main and auxiliary equipment evacuation water, reactor discharge water, second-loop wastewater, cleaning wastewater, regeneration wastewater from ion exchange devices and specialized washing water. In addition, nuclear wastewater is also generated by nuclear energy facilities, such as wastewater generated by medical institutions during radioisotope diagnosis or treatment, and wastewater generated by laboratories during activities such as testing and research on radioactive substances.
It is important to note that although nuclear wastewater is an unavoidable product of nuclear energy facilities, it has a high concentration of radioactivity and is extremely hazardous to humans and the environment. Therefore, how to properly handle and store nuclear wastewater has become an important technical challenge, and at the same time, scientific treatment means can also reduce the impact of nuclear wastewater on humans and the environment.