SPECIAL REPORT | DECOMMISSIONING CHALLENGE
Ready for the end of life
Nuclear states’ arrangements for waste management will have to grow to encompass decommissioning waste.
That may represent a change in waste streams or step change in volume
THE IAEA, THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency are working with the World Nuclear Association to consolidate the information gathered from different initiatives on assessing waste into a single publication, Status and Trends in Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management. The publication is an attempt to systematically summarise the global status and trends of programmes and inventories for spent fuel and radioactive waste management. Previous reports were published in January 2018 (covering the situation to the end of 2013) and 2022 (covering the situation to the end of 2016). The third edition (up to the end of 2019) is now available in pre-print. The basic information in this publication has been
collected through submissions to the Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Information System (SRIS), complemented with openly available Joint Convention National Reports. Approximately 90% of states with operating nuclear power plants submitted their data to SRIS or their Joint Convention National Reports, representing almost 92% of all nuclear power reactors. Data are not available for every country, but available data provide a clear representation of the radioactive waste that exists and
an indication of the challenges that will arise in the future as facilities still in operation, or planned, come to the end of their useful lives. Due to the age of many nuclear power plants,
decommissioning will become a more and more important activity as the first generation of nuclear power plants are reaching the end of their design lives. This change in waste management profile will be reinforced by changes in nuclear policy in some countries, such as Germany, that require the shutdown of nuclear reactors. In addition, the report says, many countries are now making concerted efforts to clean up past nuclear legacy sites. The addition of more decommissioning waste
accentuates some trends already existing within waste management. The report suggests that the availability of disposal routes for low level waste (LLW) and very low level waste (VLLW) will become more and more important. The rising importance of non-nuclear waste management and the move towards a ‘zero waste’ or ‘circular’ economy means that disposal of any waste should not be the preferred option so the challenge is increasingly in promoting and implementing waste minimisation techniques or recycling
Above: Changes in waste management will be reinforced by nuclear policy in some countries, such as Germany Photo credit: Natascha Kaukorat/
Shutterstock.com
16 | November 2024 |
www.neimagazine.com
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