NURES® & BORES® usage at Paks nuclear power plant

Case description

Fortum has designed and delivered a radioactive liquid waste treatment system containing  NURES® and BORES® solutions. The system efficiently decontaminates the boric acid containing, radioactive liquid waste, and reduces the final waste volume to a fraction of the volume of the wastewater.

NURES® is a leading technology in the purification of radioactive liquid waste, providing significant reductions in the final waste volumes. NURES® has superior ion selectivity and achieves higher volume reduction than any organic resin or inorganic ion exchanger on the market. NURES® consists of four different inorganic, highly selective ion exchange materials, each targeting a specific type of commonly occurring radionuclides. These are CsTreat® for cesium isotopes, SrTreat® for strontium isotopes, CoTreat® for cobalt isotopes and SbTreat® for antimony isotopes. CsTreat® is used in the Paks system to lower the activity concentration of cesium isotopes, while Hungarian technology is in place to oxidize chelates and to remove Co-60.

BORES® is a a tried and trusted technological solution for separating boron from radioactive liquid waste. BORES® is applicable not only for operating waste, but also for power plant process water from decommissioning. BORES® can be used to treat all of the system waters containing boron (e.g. fuel pool waters, boron concentrate waters etc.) as well as the evaporator concentrates of a plant. In the simple, efficient and robust treatment process of BORES®, a very high decontamination factor for boron can be achieved. BORES® performed well in the waste treatment system at Paks, reducing the boron volume by approximately 75%. With the combination of NURES® and BORES®, a clearance level liquid, both chemically and radiologically, is achieved.

The treatment facility at Paks is still in use today over 20 years later after its original delivery. This speaks to the quality of the construction and Fortum has continued to deliver the needed CsTreat® ever since. 

Our approach

Fortum was selected as a reliable business partner in the field of nuclear liquid waste treatment. Moreover, NURES® and BORES® were, and are still recognized as market-leading solutions for waste treatment, which made them ideal candidates for the work that needed to be done at Paks. The most significant benefit that both NURES® and BORES® have in common is that they provide cost-efficient solutions by reducing the waste volume and streamlining the entire treatment process substantially. Additionally, since Fortum was responsible for constructing the treatment facility where the two solutions are used, Fortum was able to customize it to NURES® and BORES® and thus optimize the entire system.

Value added

In order to be an active nuclear power generator, one needs to have a long term plan for what to do with the produced waste. Through Fortum’s expertise and assistance, Paks NPP is able to efficiently treat their liquid waste and continue providing carbon-free energy to the country of Hungary. Furthermore, the waste treatment facility was built in such a manner that it still functions up to standard nearly two decades later, saving MVM the capital and manpower to construct a new solution.