Other Countries Provide Lessons for US in Managing Used Nuclear Fuel
Other Countries Provide Lessons for US in Managing Used Nuclear Fuel
News item from NEI summarizing siting process for nuclear waste repositories in Sweden, Finland and France.
News item from NEI summarizing siting process for nuclear waste repositories in Sweden, Finland and France.
This Report has been prepared, according to the guidelines established by the Contracting Parties under Article 29.2(iii), to fulfil the obligations of the Article 32 of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, signed by Poland on 30 September 1997 in Vienna, and ratified by the President of the Republic of Poland on 9 March 2000. The corresponding instruments of ratification were deposited with the IAEA on 5 May 2000. The Convention entered into force on 18 June 2001.
History shows that the search for sites for radioactive waste management facilities has been marred by conflicts and delays. Affected communities have often objected that their concerns and interests were not addressed. In response, institutions have progressively turned away from the traditional “decide, announce and defend” model, and are learning to “engage, interact and co-operate”. This shift has fostered the emergence of partnerships between the proponent of the facility and the potential host community, as shown in a recent NEA study.
Over the past forty years, the development of the technology needed to isolate radioactive waste in underground rock systems has been found to be a formidable problem. This is especially the case in connection with high-level waste (HLW) after its removal from operations in nuclear power plants. There is also the additional problem of isolating low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW).
The first worldwide review of geological problems in radioactive waste isolation was published by the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in 1991 (Witherspoon, 1991). This review was a compilation of reports that had been submitted to a workshop held in conjunction with the 28th International Geological Congress that took place July 9Ð19, 1989, in Washington, D.C.
The report begins with a consideration of the factors which have led to a growth in the use of dialogue processes, a clarification of key concepts and a classification of dialogue processes. A description of recent and current activities in Europe and North America is followed by discussion of the relationship of processes and contexts. This then leads to an identification of the key aims and evaluation criteria which will be used in the design of dialogue processes to be conducted in subsequent phases of the project.
During the 1990s, nuclear waste programmes in nearly every concerned country met many difficulties. Nuclear waste management was seen as a technical issue, and the local communities were only involved in the last stage of the decision-making process when almost all components of the decision were already fixed. The management of high level radioactive waste is now recognised as a complex decision-making process entailing technical, ethical, social, political and economic dimensions where no solution can be reached solely on the basis of technical considerations.
This report aims to clarify the dynamics of socio-technical challenges in the implementation of geological disposal (GD) for High Level Waste (HLW) and Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF). Drawing on the 14 country reports produced within InSOTEC’s WP1 the synthesis focuses on socio-technical challenges that appear across national contexts. The synthesis report elucidates issues made visible through bringing together the analyses of different national contexts.
These proposed guidelines are recommendations that have emerged from the European Union Research Project ARGONA (Arenas for Risk Governance), Contract no.: FP6-036413
Many nations and international agencies are working to develop improved technology and industrial capability for nuclear fuel cycle and waste management operations. The effort in some countries is limited to research in university laboratories on treating low-level waste from reactor plant operations.
The Act on Nuclear Activities (SFS 1984:3) obligates the owners of the Swedish nuclear power plants to<br/>jointly prepare a comprehensive programme for the research and development work and other measures<br/>required for the safe management and disposal of the waste from nuclear power.<br/>For those parts of the waste system that have already been taken into operation or are under construction - transportation and handling systems, central interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel (CLAB) and final repository for reactor waste (SFR) - the research and development st
Public hearings were held in the Swedish municipalities of Östhammar, Tierp and Älvkarleby, Hultsfred and Oskarshamn and in Nyköping in February of 2001. The municipalities had taken part in feasibility studies, conducted by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB), in the previous years. The hearings were organised by the Swedish regulatory authorities, i.e. the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI) and the Swedish Radiation Protection Authority (SSI) and aimed at complementing the authorities’ reviews of SKB’s work and plans.
The scientific investigations within SKB 's research programme are a part of the work<br/>of designing a deep repository and identifying and investigating a suitable site.<br/>A balanced appraisal of the facts, requirements and assessments presented in connection<br/>with the preparation of R&D-Programme 86 11/led to the proposal to construct<br/>an underground research laboratory.
RD&D Programme 2010 presents SKB’s plans for research, development and demonstration during<br/>the period 2011–2016. SKB’s activities are divided into two main areas: the programme for low- and<br/>intermediate-level waste (the LILW Programme) and the Nuclear Fuel Programme.
This report is issued according to Article 32 of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.<br/>Sweden signed the Joint Convention September 29, 1997, the first day it was open for signing, during the ongoing General Conference at IAEA.