POWER April 2013 - 72

NUCLEAR WASTE POLICY
have been cooling in ponds for at least five
years is continued in dry casks, or vaults
with air circulation inside concrete shielding.
One system involves sealed steel casks
or multi-purpose canisters (MPCs), each
holding about 80 fuel assemblies with inert
gas. Casks/MPCs also may be used to
transport and eventually to dispose of the
used fuel. For storage, each is enclosed in
a ventilated storage module made of concrete
and steel. These commonly stand on
the surface, are about 18 feet high, and are
cooled by air convection. A collection of
casks or modules constitute what's known
as an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation.
In the U.S. they are licensed by
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission separately
from power plants and are intended
for interim storage only. About one-quarter
of U.S. used fuel is stored this way.
Long-Term Disposal
To ensure that no significant environmental
releases occur over tens of thousands of
years, " multiple barrier " geological disposal
is planned to immobilize radioactive elements
in HLW and some ILW and isolate
them from the biosphere. The main barriers
to be built using this approach include:
■ Immobilizing waste in a matrix such as
borosilicate glass or synthetic rock.
■ Sealing waste inside a corrosion-resistant
container, such as stainless steel.
■ Locating the container deep underground
in a stable rock structure.
■ Surrounding containers with an impermeable
backfill.
The process of selecting deep geological
repositories is under way in several
countries (see table). Finland and Sweden
are well advanced with plans for direct
disposal of used fuel, since their parliaments
decided to proceed on the basis
that it was safe, using existing technology.
Both countries have selected sites,
in Sweden, after competition between two
municipalities.
The UK's radioactive waste disposal process
stalled in late January after conflicting
votes between regional and local government.
The Borough of Copeland voted to
continue exploring its suitability, but it
lies within Cumbria County, which voted
against the idea. The site selection process
is based on a principle of voluntarism under
which communities explore their options
and have the right to withdraw at any time.
The same approach has been practiced with
success in Finland and Sweden to find suitable
and welcoming places for radioactive
waste disposal. It's also the approach now
72
favored by the U.S. Energy Department, as
outlined in its January announcement. The
negative vote in Cumbria now means that
" the current process will be brought to a
close, " said the UK Department of Energy
and Climate Change, which " will now embark
on a renewed drive " to find other interested
communities that may be able to
host a disposal site.
Canadian Nuclear Waste Disposal
Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization
(NWMO) was set up under the
2002 Nuclear Fuel Waste Act by Ontario
Power Generation (OPG), Hydro-Québec,
and New Brunswick Power Corp. operating
in concert with Atomic Energy of Canada
Ltd. (AECL). Its mandate is to explore
options for storage and disposal, make
proposals to the government, and implement
what is decided. Less than 3,000
metric tons of used fuel per year from
Candu reactors is involved. The nuclear
utilities and AECL remain responsible for
low- and intermediate-level wastes, which
are currently stored above ground.
OPG in 2005 moved ahead with plans
to build a deep geological repository for
its LLW and ILW near the Bruce Nuclear
Generating Station on Lake Huron. The
facility will be 2,000 feet beneath OPG's
Western Waste Management Facility,
which it has operated since 1974. Operation
is expected to begin around 2017/18.
In June 2007, the government selected
the retrievable deep geological disposal
option, referred to as adaptive phased management,
recommended by the NWMO
for the long-term management of HLW.
The NWMO has said that a final repository
would probably be in Ontario, Québec,
New Brunswick, or Saskatchewan,
and host localities would need to volunteer
for the role. Operation is expected by
around 2025.
French and German Nuclear Waste
Radioactive waste management in France
is governed by a 2006 law, which requires
the updating every three years of a National
Plan for the Management of Radioactive
Materials and Waste. It confirms that
long-term management of HLW would be
by deep geological disposal (with retrievability
for at least 100 years). The 2006
law envisages an operational solution for
deep geological disposal to be available
by 2025. The site is likely to be at Bure,
where an underground laboratory in a clay
formation was opened in 2004.
Germany has a nuclear phaseout policy
in place, which, if not reversed, would
result in all nuclear power stations being
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closed by around 2021. German policy
had been to reprocess used fuel, but it has
shifted toward direct disposal. Vitrified
HLW from France and the UK is temporarily
stored at facilities in Gorleben and
Ahaus. HLW from reprocessing is stored
at the facilities where they were created.
The Morsleben repository for radioactive
waste was used for the disposal of LLW
and ILW in the former German Democratic
Republic from 1971 to 1991 and later
from 1994 to 1998. That installation is
now being decommissioned. A former iron
ore mine, Konrad in Salzgitter, has been
investigated since 1975 as a possible repository
for radioactive waste with negligible
heat generation.
Japanese Nuclear Waste
Japan has a policy of reprocessing, and a
large reprocessing complex at RokkashoMura,
Aomori Prefecture is under construction.
A large LLW center at the Japan
Nuclear Fuel Ltd. (JNFL) site in Rokkasho-Mura
has been operational since
1992. JNFL is a private venture led by 10
domestic electric power companies.
Deep geological disposal is the preferred
option for HLW. A site selection
process for a final repository is under way
by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization
of Japan. Site selection could take
place between 2023 and 2027.
Hungarian Facility Crosses the
Finish Line
After 15 years of work and an investment
of more than $300 million, the first disposal
chamber at the Bataapati storage facility
in southern Hungary was completed
in early December. The project was built
by the country's Public Limited Co. for
Radioactive Waste Management (known
as Puram). Underground disposal vaults at
Bataapati will eventually hold all the lowlevel
and short-lived intermediate-level
radioactive wastes left over from the operation
and decommissioning of the Paks
nuclear power plant.
As part of the repository inauguration
in December, the first concrete container
holding nine drums of waste was moved
from a temporary surface storage facility.
Once the facility is fully operational,
waste drums will be stacked 650 to 800
feet underground inside granite bedrock
caverns. Bataapati's modular design will
allow for its expansion should the Paks
plant be granted a 20-year license extension
and if Hungary decides to construct
new reactors. ■
-David Wagman is executive
editor of POWER.
POWER | April 2013
http://www.powermag.com
POWER April 2013

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