What is "saltcrete"

Saltcrete is a mixture of cement with salts and brine, usually originating from liquid waste treatment plants. Its role is to immobilize hazardous waste and in some cases lower-level radioactive waste in the form of solid material. It is a form of mixed waste.

Saltcrete is being replaced by saltstone, which is less permeable and leachable. Saltstone is a mixture of the salt cake (mostly sodium nitrate and other salts) with concrete and fly ash. The example of saltcrete sites in the United States is The Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site or RFETS located approximately 15 miles northwest of Denver, Colorado. A historical mission was the manufacture of nuclear weapons components by using various radioactive and hazardous materials, including plutonium, uranium and beryllium, this place was chosen for the certain reason by the Atomic Energy Commission or the AEC. Around 4 decades for the production operation, between 1952 and 1992, the site was listed on National Priorities List for cleanup by the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. After the cold war's end in 1991, the RFETS mission was cleanup and closure in 1994 and activated again in 2003.