Alternatives To The Burial Of Low-Level Radioactive Waste
- Southern California Edison, P.O. Box 128, San Clemente, CA 92674 (United States)
The approach for management of LLRW in different countries has evolved differently due to many factors such as culture and public sentiment, systems of government, public policy, and geography. There are also various methods to disposition LLRW including but not limited to: - Long term statutes and unconditional or conditional release of material; - Direct Burial; - Treatment (Processing); - Burial; - Treatment; - Unconditional Release; - Recycle for Unconditional Release or Reuse Within Any Industry; - Controlled Recycle within Nuclear Industry. This paper examines the options of controlled recycle of material within the nuclear industry and cites several successful examples. Controlled recycling of LLRW materials within the nuclear industry has been demonstrated to be practical and economical. The reuse of materials within the nuclear industry properly addressed stakeholder concerns for material being used for what they believe to be improper purposes. There are a number of environmental benefits including: - Preservation of resources; - Energy Conservation (in cases where less energy is required to recycle/reuse as compared to mainstream new fuel storages. - Preservation of burial space at disposal sites. In many cases recycling is cost beneficial as compared to other options to disposition the LLRW. In some cases burial costs are comparatively higher. To further the advancement of controlled recycle countries must continue to embrace the concept and create large enough feedstocks of like type material to achieve economies of scale. Additionally, a mechanism to uniformly track material to show where material has been moved and ultimately dispositioned would also contribute to enhancing the endorsement of controlled recycling. There is a large amount of LLRW material that could potentially be recycled. To date, 100 mines, 90 commercial power reactors, over 250 research reactors and a number of fuel cycle facilities, have been retired from operation. Some of these have been fully dismantled. Proven techniques and equipment are available to dismantle nuclear facilities safely. Most parts of a nuclear power plants do not become radioactive or are contaminated at very low levels and most metal can be recycled. There are obvious environmental benefits to the decontamination, recycle and reuse of materials. The benefits come primarily from the reduction of waste and eliminating the need to obtain fresh materials for the new product. The benefits of recycling in other industries are well recognized. Not having a waste management option can sometimes delay decommissioning of nuclear facilities. Therefore, the availability of a recycling route for the waste may accelerate decommissioning progress. With improving prospects for building new nuclear power plants, the industry would likely use the option if significant amounts of waste materials could be recycled economically. There is little consistency in national approaches to recycling radioactive waste. Many options for recycling allow for the release of materials into the public domain (after decontamination to allowable levels). There is not uniform endorsement of this practice from country to country and some stakeholders do not agree with this type of material release (often reduced to as unconditional release). There is a large amount of material that can have conditional release within the industry that assures consistent endorsement by stakeholders. This material includes: concrete, lead, carbon and stainless steel, and graphite. More work needs to be done to ensure consistency in regulation from country to country. The IAEA is working to this end.
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, Illinois 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21144167
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: DD and R 2007: ANS Topical Meeting on Decommissioning, Decontamination, and Reutilization 2007, Chattanooga, TN (United States), 16-19 Sep 2007; Other Information: Country of input: France; 7 refs; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2007 ANS Topical Meeting on Decommissioning, Decontamination, and Reutilization - DD and R 2007, 336 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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