1. Chapter 7. Nuclear Waste
1.Nuclear Waste Disposal: Amounts of Waste
Categories of Nuclear Waste
Wastes from Commercial Reactors
Hazard Measures for Nuclear Wastes
2. Storage and Disposal of Nuclear Wastes
Stages in Waste Handling
Deep Geologic Disposal
Alternatives to Deep Geologic Disposal
Worldwide Status of Nuclear Waste Disposal Plans

2. 城市放射性废物管理办法
IAEA Safety Standards: Geological disposal of
radioactive waste
1.1 Categories of Nuclear Waste
The Nature of the Problem
Military and Civilian Wastes
Wastes from commercial nuclear reactors raise more critical
issues the amounts are greater, their production continues…
Form
Half lifetime
Radioactivity level
As with all radioactive sources,
radioactive waste is potentially
hazardous to health. Therefore, it
must be managed in a safe way to
protect people and the environment

3. Good waste management begins before the waste
is generated:
the starting point for all activities that produce radioactive
waste is to avoid or reduce waste generation at its
source.
Minimizing primary waste generation also minimizes the
quantity of waste requiring disposal.

4. Bad News: Wastes from commercial nuclear reactors raise
more critical issues the amounts are greater, their
production continues…
Good News: The world has over half a century’s knowledge
and experience on how to deal with nuclear waste. When
the characteristics of the waste are known, it can be
managed. -IAEA

5. Types of Waste
• High-level waste (HLW)
• Transuranic waste (TRU)
• Low-level waste (LLW)
• Uranium Mill Tailings
This categorization varies slightly from country to country,
but in principle the main criteria for determining the type of
waste are derived from radioactive content and half-life, i.e.
the time taken for the waste to lose half of its radioactivity.

6. Types of Waste
•High-Level Waste
•The most dangerous radioactive waste
•Spent fuel comes from nuclear
reactors (52,000 tons)
• liquid and solid waste from
plutonium production (91 million
gallons).
•About 70 percent of the available
storage space is now filled with used
fuel assemblies at Turkey Point.

7. Types of Waste
Transuranic Waste
– Includes clothing, tools, and
other materials
contaminated with
plutonium, neptunium, and
other man-made elements
heavier than uranium.

8. Types of Waste
• Low and Mixed Low-Level Waste
– Includes radioactive and hazardous wastes from
hospitals, research institutions, and decommissioned
power plants (472 million cubic feet)

9. Uranium Mill Tailings
•Residues left from the
extraction of uranium
ore (265 million tons)).
Types of Waste

10. Mining
• Uranium ore is usually
located aerially; core
samples are then drilled
and analyzed by
geologists. The uranium ore
is extracted by means of drilling and blasting. Mines
can be in either open pits or underground. Uranium
concentrations are a small percentage of the rock that
is mined, so tons of tailings waste are generated by
the mining process.

11. Production in 2000
Canada 10,682
Australia 7,578
Niger 2,895
Namibia 2,714
Uzbekistan 2,350
Russia (est) 2,000
Kazakhstan 1,752
USA 1,456
South Africa 878
China (est) 500
Ukraine (est) 500
Czech Republic 500
India (est) 200
France 319
others 422
Total world 34,746
company tonnes U
Cameco 7218
Cogema 6643
WMC 3693
ERA 3564
Navoi 2400
Rossing 2239
KazAtomProm 2018
Priargunsky 2000
Source: http://www.world-nuclear.org/search/index.htm

13. Whatever the type of the radioactive waste, all
of it has to be disposed of in a safe manner!
It is a common misbelief that radioactive waste takes up a lot
of space. However, all the spent fuel generated by two 860
MW reactors during their 40 years of operation would fit into
three 10 metre by ten metre pools.

14. Measures of Waste Magnitudes
Mass: The most common mass measure for nuclear waste is the
mass of the uranium in the initial fuel, more broadly designated as
metric tonnes of initial heavy metal (MTIHM or MTHM)
Volume: The volume of the fuel can be inferred from the UO2
mass and density (about 10 tonnes/m3
).
Radioactivity: in terms of the activity (in curies or becquerels)
taken either for the radionuclides individually or for their sum.
radionuclides differ in the types of particles emitted, their energy,
the half-lives, and the possibility of their reaching the
biosphere. Nonetheless, it provides some overall perspective.
Heat output: on the scale of 6 kW of heat are produced per
megacurie of activity

15. 1.2 Wastes from Commercial Reactors
Mass and Volume per GWyr

16. Activity of selected radionuclides in spent fuel versus time
since discharge of fuel from reactor

17. Activity of selected radionuclides as a function of time

18. Heat Production
The handling of the nuclear wastes is significantly complicated
by the heat generated in the decay of the radionuclides
The heat generation per unit activity depends on the energy
carried by the emitted particles.
1 megacurie → 5.93 kW (at 1 MeV per disintegration).

19. Decay of spent fuel from 1 GWyr of PWR operation, for
burnup of 40 GWd/t (28.5 MTHM): activity and thermal output
as a function of time since discharge.

20. 1.3 Hazard Measures for Nuclear Wastes
Total System Performance Assessments (TSPAs)
The maximum permissible concentration is established as the
maximum level acceptable for drinking water
is closely related to the annual limit on intake (ALI). 20 mSv/yr
The water dilution volume (in cubic meters) is the amount of
water required to dilute the radionuclide to the maximum
permissible concentration.

21. Illustration of use of water dilution volume: WDV of
radionuclides in PWR spent fuel, as a function of time

22. Chapter 7. Nuclear Waste
1.Nuclear Waste Disposal: Amounts of Waste
Categories of Nuclear Waste
Wastes from Commercial Reactors
Hazard Measures for Nuclear Wastes
2. Storage and Disposal of Nuclear Wastes
Stages in Waste Handling
Deep Geologic Disposal
Alternatives to Deep Geologic Disposal
Worldwide Status of Nuclear Waste Disposal Plans

23. Waste Storage Alternatives
• Leave It Where It Is
• Deep Geologic Disposal
– Yucca Mountain, Nevada
• Salt Cave Disposal
– WIPP near Carlsbad, New Mexico
• Very Deep Holes (6 miles)
• Ice-Sheet Disposal
• Space Disposal
• Sub-Seabed Disposal
• Island Geologic Disposal
• Deep-Well Injection Disposal
• Vitrification (Glass Waste)
• Reprocessing
It is better to have used nuclear
fuel in one location

24. NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard
• Fear of radiation because they don’t understand it
• Concern that the waste facility will
release long-term contamination
• Worry that property values will be reduced
with construction of a waste facility
• Belief that power companies are the ones
responsible for storing their own waste
• People don’t want dumped on by other
peoples’ waste
• Belief that nuclear power should just go
away and be replaced by other energy
resources
• Environmental concerns

25. Current Waste Disposal
• At this time, radioactive wastes are being stored at
the Department of Energy’s facilities around the
country
• High level wastes are stored in underground carbon
or stainless steel tanks
• Spent nuclear fuel is put in above-ground dry storage
facilities and in water-filled pools

26. Current High-Level Waste
Storage in the US

27. www.nei.org

28. 2.2 Deep Geologic Disposal
In every option, deep geological disposal is the preferred final
end point.
The principle of geological disposal is to isolate the waste deep
inside a suitable host formation, e.g. granite （花岗岩） , salt
or clay.
The waste is placed in an underground facility or disposal
facility, designed to ensure that a system of natural and
multiple artificial barriers work together to prevent radioactivity
from escaping.

29. Yucca Mountain
The Future of Nuclear Waste
Storage

30. Yucca Mountain Project: Nuclear Fuel
and High Level Waste Repository
 Much more secure repository than leaving high level waste at 60
reactor sites around the country.
 On old atomic bomb testing base, inside a mountain.
 The storage is above the water table.
 The Yucca Mountain site would be 60% filled by present waste.
 US has legal commitment to the reactor industry.
 Site has been studied extensively by scientists for over 20 years.
 Will store waste during its 10,000 year decay time.
 Questions of how to deflect dripping water around and under the
storage vessels.
 Questions of radioactive decay weakening storage containers.
 A solution would be to build containers that can be opened and
reincased, or to which surrounded casings could be added.

32. Transportation Concerns

33. Artist’s conception of transportation cask and carrier for truck transport;
total length = 18 m (56 ft).

35. Typical Low-Level Waste
Disposal Site
Hanford (Nuclear News, November 2004)

36. Country Facility name / Region Geology Depth Status
Belgium HADES Underground Research Facility
/ Mol
plastic clay 223 m in operation 1982
Canada AECL Underground Research
Laboratory / Pinawa
granite 420 m 1990-2006
Finland ONKALO / Olkiluoto granite 400 m under construction
France Meuse/Haute Marne Underground Research Laboratory
/ Bure
mudstone 500 m in operation 1999
Japan Horonobe Underground Research Lab
/ Horonobe
sedimentary rock 500 m under construction
Japan Mizunami Underground Research
Lab / Mizunami
granite 1000 m under construction
Korea Korea Underground Research Tunnel granite 80 m in operation 2006
Sweden Aspo Hard Rock Laboratory granite 450 m in operation 1995
Switzerland Grimsel Test Site granite 450 m in operation 1984
Switzerland Mont Terri Rock Laboratory / Mont
Terri
claystone 300 m in operation 1996
USA Yucca Mountain nuclear waste
repository / Nevada
tuff, ignimbrite 50 m 1997-2008
2.4 Worldwide Status of Nuclear Waste Disposal
Plans

37. Korea Gyeongju L&ILW — 80 m under construction
Sweden
SFR /
Forsmark
63,000
m3
L&ILW
granite 50 m in operation 1988
Sweden Forsmark spent fuel granite 450 m licence application 2011
Switzerla
nd
—
high-level
waste
clay — siting
United
Kingdom
—
high-level
waste
— — under discussion
USA
Waste
Isolation Pilot
Plant / New
Mexico
transuranic
waste
salt bed 655 m in operation 1999
USA
Yucca
Mountain
Project /
Nevada
70,000 ton
HLW
ignimbrite 200-300 m proposed, canceled 2010

39. 高放废物地质处置研究开发规划指南
国 防 科 学 技 术 工 业 委 员 会
科 学 技 术 部
国 家 环 境 保 护 总 局
2006
我国高放废物地质处置规划研究的总体思路是：
统筹规划、协调发展、分步决策、循序渐进。

40. 研究开发和处置库工程建设包括三个阶段：
试验室研究开发和处置库选址阶段（ 2006 － 2020 ）、
地下试验阶段（ 2021 － 2040 ）、
原型处置库验证与处置库建设阶段（ 2041 －本世纪中
叶）
甘肃北山 3 个预选地段（旧井、野马泉、向阳山 - 新
场）

41. In terms of good practices of radioactive
waste management, responsibility covers
all the steps from ‘cradle to grave’.

42. Energy Source Death Rate
deaths per TWhr deaths per GWyr
Coal – world average 161 1410 (26% of world energy,
50% of electricity)
Coal – China 278 2435
Coal – USA 15 131
Oil 36 315 (36% of world energy)
Natural Gas 4 35 (21% of world energy)
Biofuel/Biomass 12 105
Peat 12 105
Solar (rooftop) 0.44 3.85 (less than 0.1% of world
energy)
Wind 0.15 1.31 (less than 1% of world
energy)
Hydro 0.10 .88 (europe death rate, 2.2%
of world energy)
Hydro - world including
Banqiao)
1.4 12 (about 2500 TWh/yr and
171,000 Banqiao dead)
Nuclear 0.04 .35 (5.9% of world energy)
Living is not a risk-free endeavour to be sure.

43. Chapter 7. Nuclear Waste
1.Nuclear Waste Disposal: Amounts of Waste
Categories of Nuclear Waste
Wastes from Commercial Reactors
Hazard Measures for Nuclear Wastes
2. Storage and Disposal of Nuclear Wastes
Stages in Waste Handling
Deep Geologic Disposal
Alternatives to Deep Geologic Disposal
Worldwide Status of Nuclear Waste Disposal Plans

44. Oriel Wilson, Raquel R. Pinderhughes,
Dennis Silverman, Lindsey Garst
Jay Nargundkar, Jonah Richmond