Design, installation, and maintenance of temporary storage sites for radioactive decontamination waste

A number of temporary storage sites have been commissioned to contain soils and wastes generated from the decontamination works after the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. At these sites, volume reduction has been observed in the flexible container bags caused by the dehydration and decomposition of the decontamination waste inside. This situation leads to uneven settlement of the top of these flexible container bags in these temporary storage sites, and might result in problems such as leakage through top and bottom liners installed to contain these container bags. To deal with these problems immediately, the Geomembrane Technical Committee, Japan Chapter of International Geosynthetics Society has conducted deliberations and made reports on procedures for selection and installation of storage containers that are to prevent polluted water from leaking outside of storage sites, structures, and barrier materials, a new inspection procedure for seaming of cover geomembranes, installation of cover materials that are to counter uneven settlement of soil, and also temperature control procedures to prevent natural ignition of waste. This paper summarizes the deliberations and the procedures adopted.