Shogo Taniguchi

In the aftermath of the 2011 accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (F1 hereafter), municipal solid waste (MSW) contaminated with radioactive cesium (rad-Cs hereafter) has been generated in 12 prefectures in Japan. The Japanese Minister of Environment classified MSW that contained rad-Cs in the concentration more than 8,000 Bq/kg as “designated (solid) waste (DSW hereafter), and prescribed the collection, storage and transportation procedures. When MSW containing rad-Cs was incinerated, rad-Cs was concentrated in fly ash, and the ash often fell into the category of DSW. We have investigated a technique that can reduce the volume of the rad-Cs-contaminated fly-ash by extracting rad-Cs with aqueous solvents such as water and oxalic acid and concentrating rad-Cs in a small amount of hexacyanoferrate (or ferrocyanide, designated as Fer hereafter) precipitate. Since DSW could not be transported to the outside laboratory, we have conducted on-site tests at places where DSW were generated to investigate the applicability of the extraction – precipitation technique. The present report is a summary of our most recent on-site test conducted in 2014. Also presented is the re-evaluation of the results of our past on-site test from the viewpoint of leaching of rad-Cs and heavy metals in the fly ash. An apparent decrease in leaching of rad-Cs from fly ash was observed by incinerating sewage sludge with soil. Fly ash from a melting furnace contained more water-soluble rad-Cs than that from a fluidized-bed incinerator. Some incinerator fly ash appeared to produce rad-Cs in colloidal form when extracted with oxalic acid, resulting in the lower removal of rad-Cs from the extract by Fer method.

The usefulness of ultraviolet-C (UVC: 254nm) and vacuum UV (VUV: 185+ 254nm) photolysis for elimination and mineralization of four selected pharmaceutical compounds (PhCs) in mixed aqueous solution were tested in laboratory batch experiments. UVC photolysis was unable to eliminate moderate and refractory PhCs. Moreover, it was not at all useful for mineralization of the PhCs (<10% TOC removal, 30min reaction) and longer reaction period (i.e. 60min) had no significant positive impact on the mineralization efficiency. On the other hand, VUV photolysis eliminated the PhCs almost completely in a short reaction period irrespective of their nature, and 90% mineralization was achieved in an hour. The greatly enhanced elimination and mineralization efficiencies for VUV photolysis were attributed to accelerated direct and indirect photolysis reactions. Based on the results, it was concluded that VUV photolysis was very promising over UVC photolysis for mineralization of PhCs in mixed aqueous solution. However, more studies are necessary for practical applicability of the method in wastewater treatments.