The drying performance of typical solid wastes (cotton fabrics and plastic debris) in nuclear power plants was evaluated in a bench-scale microwave-combined hot air setup (air temperatures: 90-130 degrees C; microwave power: 200-800 W). The required time of plastic debris in continuous microwave-combined hot-air drying reduced by about 67% and 68% compared to hot-air and microwave drying, respectively, and that decreased by about 80% and 63% for cotton fabrics. In microwave drying or continuous combined drying, better microwave heating uniformity existed in plastic debris. The temperature distribution uniformity in cotton fabrics was improved by the combined drying.