Risks of Hazardous Substances in Radioactive Waste for the Konrad Repository in Germany - 17522
Conference
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OSTI ID:22802493
- Lower Saxony Water Management, Coastal Defence and Nature Conservation Agency - NLWKN (Germany)
- TUV NORD EnSys GmbH and Co. KG, Hanover (Germany)
- NMU, Lower Saxony Ministry for Environment, Energy and Climate Protection (Germany)
When disposing of radioactive waste with negligible heat generation, the activity of the radionuclides is limited. However, the waste including radioactive material comprises a certain proportion of non-radioactive material. The risk of hazardous contamination of the groundwater by non-radioactive substances must be taken into account. It must be ascertained that the non-radioactive material cannot affect near-surface groundwater, which is a resource for drinking water supply. To achieve this, limit values on the amount of hazardous substances in the total waste volume shall be determined. In 2002 a regulatory approval was granted to the 'Konrad' final storage facility for radioactive waste with negligible heat generation according to the German Water Resources Act. This approval is embedded in the license (plan-approval decision) based on the German Atomic Energy Act. The approval is based on the model of a possible discharge of contaminants from the final storage facility. In a long-term simulation spanning 300,000 years, contact of the waste with the groundwater in the surrounding rock formations over the postoperational phase was conservatively assumed. The maximum amount of allowable disposal of substances - such that no concern of affecting the near-surface groundwater arises - can be derived from the solubility of the respective substances. Implementing the permit according to the Water Resources Act requires: - classification of the waste through delivery declaration obligations - monitoring the substance inspection in the waste to assess its suitability for the disposal, and - stock keeping procedures for the disposal waste by the operator. While the repository is operated by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) (http://www.bfs.de./EN/home/home{sub n}ode;), reporting to the Federal Environment Ministry, the statutory water permit is issued and applied by the State of Lower Saxony as responsible state authority. A waste package/container list supplements a comprehensive list of substances. From this - depending on the respectively conditioned waste - material vectors can be derived. For this purpose, BfS provides a database with a substances and container list to the waste owners. In the meantime, first experiences have been collected in applying the approval. More than 540 waste containers with a total mass of almost 6,000 Mg have been controlled and are ready for disposal. In our presentation we will show the recent development in supervising the preparation for the disposal of mixed waste. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22802493
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US--19-WM-17522
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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