High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal

Before Yucca Mountain can become the nuclear waste repository for the nation, a license must be issued by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Evaluation of the site for safe storage of high-level nuclear wastes for at least 10 000 years requires abroad spectrum of scientific disciplines. Mathematical models are developed to calculate the amount and type of radioactive materials that could be released into the environment due to different processes and events. 

Two features of the project make geochemical modeling an indispensable and valuable tool that it has never been before. First, it concerns future events what will happen if a repository stores highly radioactive materials there Mathematical models are the 

Geochemical modeling has also been widely used in performance assessment of high-level nuclear waste repositories in other countries, with which we are not as familiar. Therefore, our book has a strong bias toward using examples in the USA. 

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This volume makes an important contribution to the information needed for disposal of wastes in geological media, demonstrating the advanced state of knowledge in many of the above fields of research. It represents a major part of what must be known before high-level radioactive waste disposal may become a reality. 

NRC (1990). Rethinking High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal A Position Statement of the Board on Radioactive Waste Management, National Academy Press, Washington, DC. 

STEADMAN, J.A., High level radioactive waste disposal a survey of international research, UK-DOE Report No. DOE/RAS/94.003, London (1995) 46pp. 

Bowman, C.D. and F. Venneri, Underground Supercriticality fi-om Plutonium and Other Fissile Material, (LA-UR94-4022A), Los Alamos National Laboratory (undated, but 1995). Board on Radioactive Waste Management, Rethinking High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal, National Academy Press, Washington (1990). 

The long term safety of high level radioactive waste disposal shall be based on the multibarrier concept, and shall be assessed on the basis of the performance of the disposal system as a whole. 

It is recognized that the long term safi of a high level radioactive waste disposal system cannot be demonstrated directly. However, it can be indirectly demonstrated by evaluation using predictive analyses based on technical and scientific data. Demonstration of compliance with numerical safety criteria therefore... 

The chemical basis of near>field containment in the Swiss high-level radioactive waste disposal concept... 

The main drawback to nuclear power is the production of radioactive waste. Spent fuel from a nuclear reactor is considered a high-level radioactive waste, and remains radioactive for a veiy long time. Spent fuel consists of fission products from the U-235 and Pu-239 fission process, and also from unspent U-238, Pu-240, and other heavy metals produced during the fuel cycle. That is why special programs exist for the handling and disposal of nuclear waste. 

The Clinton Administration believes that the overriding goal of the Federal Government s high-level radioactive waste management policy should be the establishment of a permanent geologic repository - essential not only for the disposal of commercial spent fuel, but also for... 

In 1995, the total cost to remediate 187,000 m of liquid high-level radioactive waste (HEW) at the Hanford site in Richland, Washington, was estimated to be 6,543 billion. Approximately 163 million was allocated to purchase the resin. The costs of the facilities and operations were estimated at 530 million. The remaining 5,850 billion were associated with the vitrification and disposal of the used resin (D19431U, pp. 5, 11). 

Researchers claim that lonsiv TIE-96 can remove 99.9% of the plutonium, strontium, and cesium from waste solutions, allowing for wastes to be divided into separate low-level and high-level radioactive waste streams, where they can be safely and efficiently processed for disposal. 

Brederhoeft, J. D., England, A. W., Stewart, D. B., Trask N. J. Winograd, I. J. 1976. Geological disposal of high-level radioactive wastes -Earth-science perspectives. US. Geological Survey Circular, 779, 28 pp. 

Hatch, L. P., Weth, G. C. Tuthill, E. J. 1963. Ultimate disposal of high level radioactive wastes - Fixation in phosphate glass with emphasis on the continuous mode of plant Operation. In Treatment and Storage of High Level Radioactive Wastes. IAEA, Vienna, 531-545. 

Chapman, N. A., McKinley, I. G. Smellie, J. A. T. 1984. The potential of natural analogues in assessing systems for deep disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Technical Report SKB 84-16, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co., Stockholm, 103 p. 

Salt deposits are potential host rocks for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste. In this chapter we will present data from the Werra-Fulda district (northern Germany) where Upper Permian (Zechstein) salt is crosscut by numerous basalt dykes of Miocene age. 

These review papers have included the circular by the U.S. Geological Survey, Circular 779, "Geologic Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Wastes - Earth-Science Perspectives" the review by the Ad-Hoc Committee of Earth Scientists for the EPA reviews by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and finally a review prepared by an Interagency Committee chaired by the Office of Science and Technology Policy whose paper was released for public comment on July 3, 1978. 

The best example of this is wastes that are classified based solely on the nature of the generating process or facility e.g., high-level radioactive waste, chemical wastes from certain industries), irrespective of the content and concentration of hazardous substances. This results in resources being used unnecessarily on lower-risk situations when they could be better applied to higher-risk situations (hazardous waste disposal or otherwise). For example, billions of dollars have been spent in managing... 

The extent to which differences in waste classification and approaches to waste management may impede the disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel is not yet clear because of uncertainties in the final waste forms intended for disposal and the fact that siting and licensing of a repository is still in the investigative phase. 

Some high-level radioactive waste can be less hazardous than high-activity (Class-C or greater-than-Class-C) low-level waste in regard to the levels of radioactivity due to shorter-lived radionuclides and the long-term risks that arise from disposal due to long-lived radionuclides. 

NRC (1983). U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 10 CFR Part 60—Disposal of high-level radioactive wastes in geologic repositories, Final rule,... 

Isotope Techniques in the Hydrological Assessment of Potential Sites for the Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Wastes, 164 pp., 1983. 

Seme R. J. and Muller A. B. (1987) A perspective on adsorption of radionuclides onto geologic media. In The Geological Disposal of High Level Radioactive Wastes (ed. D. G. Brookins). Theophrastus Publications, pp. 407 -443. 

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2001) 10 CFR Parts 2, 19, 20, 21, etc. disposal of high-level radioactive wastes in a proposed geological repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada final rule. Federal Register 66(213), 55732-55816. 

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