The presence of tritium in tritium-burning devices to be built for large scale research on thermonuclear fusion poses many problems especially in terms of occupational and environmental safety. One of these problems derives from the production of tritiated wastes in gaseous, liquid and solid forms. All these wastes need to be adequately processed and conditioned to minimize tritium releases to an acceptably low occupational and environmental level and consequently to protect workers and the public against the risks of unacceptable doses from exposure to tritium.Since all experimental thermonuclear fusion devices of the Tokomak type to be built and operated in the near future as well as all experimental activities undertaken in tritium laboratories like ETHEL will generate tritiated wastes, current strategies and practices to be applied for the routine management of these wastes need to be defined. Adequate background information is provided through an exhaustive literature survey. In this frame alternative tritiated waste management options so far investigated or currently applied to this end in Europe, USA and Canada have been assessed,The relevance of tritium in waste containing gamma-emitters, originated by the neutron activation of structural materials is assessed in relation to potential final disposal options. Particular importance has been attached to the tritium retention efficiency achievable by the various waste immobilization options.

The European Tritium Handling Experimental Laboratory (ETHEL) is a new tritium facility at the Commission of the European Community's Joint Research Centre, Ispra Site. The Laboratory, which is foreseen to commence radioactive operations in 1992, has the basic research goal of investigating and developing safe tritium handling techniques. Therefore, during the design and construction of the facility much emphasis was given to provide research personnel with a flexible tool for performing experimental work under safe conditions. This paper describes the main types of containment in which tritium research will be performed and the various gaseous detritiation systems which serve these containments.

The equipment for measuring the low level gas release rate of tritiated wastes is designed to match the storage requirements for the preservation of the environment.The measuring method which has been developed by the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (C.E.A.) at BRUYERES-LE-CHATEL centre is based on the use of an ionization chamber (or a bubbler for a higher sensitivity) with an associated tritiated waste containment system. USSI INGENIERIE has industrialized and adapted this technology to industrial purposes to the specific research requirement of the European Tritium Handling Experimental Laboratory (ETHEL) of the CEC located at ISPRA Site under a Feasibility study contract financed by CEC ISPRA. This unit is designed to enable R&D studies with regard to the release rate of tritiated wastes like those which will be generated by the Fusion reactors of the future. Such a unit is subsequently described with the equipment needed for its operation.

The European Tritium Handling Experimental Laboratory (ETHEL) is a new tritium facility at the Commission of the European Community's Joint Research Centre, Ispra Site. The laboratory, destined to handle multigramme amounts of tritium for safety related R&D purposes, is foreseen to start radioactive operations in late 1992. The general operation and maintenance of laboratory systems and future experiments will generate tritiated wastes in gaseous, liquid and solid forms. The management of such wastes under safe working conditions is a stringent laboratory requirement aimed at minimising the risk of unacceptable tritium exposures to workers and the general public. This paper describes the main systems and facilities installed in ETHEL for the safe management of tritiated wastes.

The European Tritium Handling Experimental Laboratory (ETHEL) is the new tritium facility of the Commission of the European Communities aimed at handling multigram amounts of tritium for safety-related R&D purposes. The laboratory, located at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra site (Italy), is foreseen to start radioactive operation in 1992. The paper describes the operational criteria and conditioning procedures whose application is inteded for implementing the safe management of tritiated wastes expected from ETHEL.

A set of experiments which are of prominent interest for the development of nuclear fusion technology in Europe are planned by the JRC-Ispra for the near future, in the frame of experimental activities to be performed in ETHEL, the European Tritium Handling Experimental Laboratory under construction at the Ispra site (see section 3).

Tritium contaminated wastes in gaseous, liquid and solid forms will be generated during the operation and maintenance of the European Tritium Handling Experimental Laboratory. All such wastes must be adequately processed to minimise any tritium losses to the environment. This paper initially discusses the objectives regarding liquid and solid waste handling, processing and storage at the laboratory. Later, the various plant and procedures to be employed for achieving these goals are described.

In the frame of JRC's 1984–1987 Fusion Technology Programme and with the aim of contributing to tritium R&D for NET, the Commission of the European Communities decided in July 1985 to construct the European Tritium Handling Experimental Laboratory (ETHEL) on the site of the Ispra Establishment. ETHEL is a facility designed to handle a maximum inventory of 100 g tritium. Its detailed design study was started in January 1987 and its commissioning is foreseen for end 1989 - beginning 1990. Being well aware of the lack of an efficient, economic and safe technology in the field of tritiated waste management, extensive laboratory research on tritiated waste treatment, conditioning and containment inside multibarrier systems, has been proposed by the research staff of the Ispra Establishment as one of the experimental activities to be performed at ETHEL. Current practices to be applied for routine management of tritiated waste generated during the normal ETHEL operations, as well as objectives of the experimental research that the JRC staff specifically intend to perform in the field of tritiated waste management strategy, are described.

Three HAW partitioning processes have been selected and investigated on a laboratory scale at the JRC-Ispra Establishment (CEC). The purpose of these processes was to demonstrate the chemical feasibility of the actinide separation from HAW in order to reduce the potential long term hazard of virtified HAW.

The importance of waste categories other than high-activity waste in the context of long-term risk potential has been increasingly stressed over the last few years. Particular emphasis has been placed on the need for improved techniques for alpha waste reduction, conditioning, and disposal. One way to achieve this is based on an oxalate precipitation technique that recovers the actinides from all liquid alpha waste stream sources. As a result, a fully integrated alpha waste management is conceived that provides a rework unit for plutonium recovery, operating on line with reprocessing and with added incentives, such as savings in fissile material, reduced downtime, reduced medium level liquid waste volumes, and the possibility of confining neptunium and its precursors to a single stream.