The document describes the El Cabril radioactive waste facility located in Spain. It discusses (1) the classification of radioactive waste as exempt, very short-lived, very low-level, low-level, intermediate-level, or high-level waste, (2) the multi-barrier disposal concept used at El Cabril involving waste immobilization, concrete storage containers, and the geologic barrier, and (3) the key components and operations of the El Cabril facility including storage cells, transportation, conditioning, and treatment buildings.

1. DIVYASREE S.L
M160235CE
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2.  ‘Radioactive material in gaseous, liquid or
solid form for which no further use is
foreseen, and which is controlled as
radioactive waste by a regulatory body’
2

3.  Exempt waste
 Very short lived waste (VSLW)
 Very low level waste (VLLW)
 Low level Waste (LLW)
 Intermediate level waste (ILW)
 High level waste (HLW)
3

4. Conceptual illustration of the waste classification system and relevant
disposal options (Source-ANSTO)
4

5.  Treated to achieve volume reduction before
disposal.
Examples
 Lightly contaminated laboratory items such
as paper, clothing, plastic & glassware, soil,
smoke detectors, medicinal & industrial
materials
5

6.  Near surface non-engineered disposal
(unlined shallow trenches)
 Near surface engineered disposal
 Sub-surface disposal facilities
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7.  For the disposal of VLLW, LLW & ILW
produced in Spain.
 Located in the northwest of the province of
Cordoba.
 Site is on a geological formation of gneisses
and mica schist – ‘EI Cabril formation’
 Preparatory work started in 1986.
 Operated by ENRESA in 1992.
 Capacity- 50000 m3 of raw waste or 35000 m3
of conditioned waste.
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8. El Cabril Radioactive Waste Facility: The storage vaults are in the
foreground, adjacent to two movable white roofs to cover each vault while
being filled and sealed.
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9. It must satisfy two basic objectives
 Ensure the immediate & deferred protection
of the public and the environment.
 Allow the free use of the site after a
maximum period of 300 years, without
radiological limitation.
Special objective in case of EI cabril
 Facilitate the recoverability of the waste if it
is possible.
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10.  Low level waste are received at the facility
in 200 litre drums.
 Waste is characterized and a series of tests
are conducted to ensure compliance with the
waste acceptance criteria.
 Transport facilities are specially designed &
contains shielding and locking devices.
 Disposal concept- to create multiple barriers
between waste and the environment.
 Multi-barrier system is composed of 3
barriers
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11. 1. Ist barrier
 Consists of waste immobilization matrix & the
concrete storage container.
2. IInd barrier
 Made by the bottom slabs of the cells, cover
and infiltration control network.
 Allows water which is needed for the
treatment of waste packages & limits the
ingress of extra water.
3. IIIrd barrier
 It is a geologic barrier.
 Limits the impact from potential leaching
which may be caused due to the degradation
of the above barriers.
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12.  It has 2 zones
I. Disposal zone
II. Building zone
 Disposal zone
 28 storage cells grouped in 2 platforms.
 North platform with 16 cells.
 South platform with 12 cells.
 Platforms are 90m wide horizontal surfaces.
 Excavated in trenches.
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13.  Cells are half-buried in each of the
platforms.
 These are arranged in 2 rows & are served by
a sliding roof.
 Roofs carry travelling cranes of 25 tons.
 Travelling cranes are operated by remote
control.
 Storage cell dimension -24x19x10 m.
 Main element is bottom slab.
 It is 0.6m thick at the edges & 0.5m thick at
the center.
 Coated with a waterproof layer of
polyurethane & a 10-20 cm layer of porous
concrete.
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14.  This forms the horizontal surface.
 Bottom slab of each cell is linked to a network
of pipes.
 It is installed in inspection drifts located below
the storage structures via a transparent holding
tank.
 This network is known as ‘infiltration control
network’.
 It discharges in to a final control tank.
 Waste packages to be disposed are immobilized
inside concrete containers.
 Dimensions of container – 2.25x2.25x2.20 m
 Weight – 24 tons, accommodates 18 drums
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15.  Operation is carried out in conditioning
building.
 After that, containers are transported to the
disposal zone by lorries.
 Transport lorries are placed in a side corridor
located between storage structures & roof
walls.
 Concrete containers are stored in piles of 4
levels in the storage cells.
 Each level is having a capacity of 320
containers.
 They are placed in contact with each other &
a central gap is left to allow for container
manufacturing or positioning tolerances.
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16.  Once each storage cell has been fully loaded,
central gap is filled with gravel.
 This is to stiffen the assembly.
 An upper closing slab is also built.
 Entire structure is waterproofed with a synthetic
coating.
 After finishing waste emplacement operations,
disposal cells are buried under a low permeability
cover.
 It is made up of alternate layers of impermeable
& drainage materials.
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17. General scheme of the disposal facility through the subsequent
operating phases 17

18. Loading radioactive waste packages into disposal containers
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19. Loading disposal containers into storage
cells
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20. Truck used to transport waste packages from different sites to EI
Cabril
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21.  Building zone
 It houses the installations for waste
treatment, conditioning & their control,
auxiliary services etc.
 Buildings directly involved in waste
management are
1. Transitory Reception Building
2. Conditioning Building
3. Active Characterization Laboratory
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22.  Contains vehicle radiological control post,
vehicle decontamination post & transitory
waste packages storage.
 Separates the non-regulated zone from the
monitored zone.
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23.  Houses control room, incinerator, drum
compactor & the mortar injection system.
 All the waste passes through it.
 Treatment & conditioning operations are
performed in this building.
 All the information on the operation of the
whole facility, electrical distribution,
uninterrupted power supply, controlled
ventilation & radiation monitoring systems
are centralized in this building.
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24.  Incinerator is of excess air type with double
combustion chamber.
 A temperature of 8000C is reached in the first
chamber & 10000C in the post combustion
chamber.
 At the chamber outlet, a high temperature
silicon-carbide filter is present.
 Fumes are cooled down to 1400C by dilution in
air.
 Gases are then passed through the high
efficiency filter.
 After filtration, these are discharged to the
stack.
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25.  Drum compactor is having a force of 1200
tons & average volume reduction factor of
over 3.
 It is kept below atmospheric pressure by the
controlled ventilation systems.
 Pellets are inserted by a distributor.
 These are placed in order inside a storage
container.
 Sent to the mortar injection line.
Mortar injection line consists of
1. Horizontal mixer
2. Peristaltic pumps
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26. 3. Telescopic injector
4. Dosification control equipment
 These systems are for the immobilization of
the waste packages into the concrete
containers.
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27.  Used for performing tests to verify the
characteristics of waste samples & packages.
 Contains a hot cell made of concrete with a
stainless steel inner lining & controlled
ventilation.
Cell is equipped with
1. Lead glass windows
2. 2 remote controlled manipulators
3. A travelling crane
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28. 4. Equipment for cutting & removing the metal
casing of the drums
5. Dry core extraction equipment
6. Mechanical test equipment
7. Liquidation systems for samples & drums
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29.  Design of the near-surface disposal allows for
the recoverability of the waste if necessary.
 EI Cabril serves as an efficient system for the
storage of LLW & ILW in Spain.
29

30. 1. M. Carmen Rufz Lopez et al., “Design and
licensing of the EI Cabril L/ILW disposal
Facility”, Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear
(CSN), Just Dorado, Madrid
2. OCDE/NEA, “Shallow Land Disposal of
Radioactive Waste Reference level for the
Acceptance of Long Lived Radionuclides,
Parfs, 1987
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