Science underlying radioactive waste management: Status and needs -- twenty years later
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Materials Research Lab.
The setting of the technical subsystem within the overall socio-political-economic-technical radwaste system will be described and the highly interactive nature of the larger setting emphasized. It will be shown that because of the dominance of the socio-political subsystem, the importance of the technical subsystem is overshadowed. Moreover the key issue in the technical subsystem, whether to put more reliance on the immobilization (via the waste package or engineered barriers) or the isolation (via the geology) has stayed tilted toward the latter since 1978, when the author organized the first symposium on radwaste science (at the Materials Research Society Meeting). Now that the isolation strategy is stymied, the opportunity arises again for the materials community to make a compelling case for the waste package`s true significance. This review is made mainly from the perspective of one laboratory in one country, the US. What is remarkable about the state of research in the technical subsystem is how little the big picture of the science or the technology has changed after some billions spent on R/D. The borosilicate glass (almost unchanged) is still the establishment`s choice of reference waste form for HLW. Cost, however, is finally forcing cement encapsulated forms to be given a second look. Mineral-modeled ceramics have received a great deal of scientific attention but remain esoteric to managers. It will be shown that in the author`s opinion an enormous amount of detailed science has been done but most of it is unlikely to prove to be of any relevance or use. The policy implications for future R/D are discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 572001
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-961202-; TRN: 98:003677
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1996 Fall meeting of the Materials Research Society (MRS), Boston, MA (United States), 2-6 Dec 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1997; Related Information: Is Part Of Scientific basis for nuclear waste management XX; Gray, W.J. [ed.] [Pacific Northwest National Lab., Richland, WA (United States)]; Triay, I.R. [ed.] [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)]; PB: 1389 p.; Materials Research Society symposium proceedings, Volume 465
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
A HOLISTIC APPROACH FOR DISPOSITION OF LONG-LIVED RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
Deep Isolation - Innovation for the Storage and Disposal of High-level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel - 19367