SPECIAL REPORT | DECOMMISSIONING CHALLENGE


Above: Finland is set to open the world’s first final repository for spent fuel


Radioactive waste from decommissioning is the


main waste stream in many nuclear operating countries, generated both by nuclear power industry facilities and other facilities that use radioactive materials for different regulated activities, such as research and medicine. The report says, “Over recent decades, and very significantly in the last few years, the end of operation of a large number of these facilities is generating significant inventories of different classes and types of decommissioning radioactive waste that have become the most important stream from a quantitative perspective.” Countries such as Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and the USA have driven the development of specific solutions on such aspects as characterisation, treatment and conditioning, and the associated logistics. The questions associated with managing this waste are consistent across jurisdictions, although the solutions adopted in each programme and project are more specific to their characteristics and contexts.


Waste hierarchy The waste hierarchy and the circular economy are becoming more important in waste management. There are increasing efforts to reduce waste to the minimum, along with initiatives to recover radioactive materials that may be reused or recycled. These practices are common in operating facilities, and are similarly required in planning decommissioning projects where waste materials can be significant in mass as in volumes. The option to clear radioactive waste that falls under


the threshold for classification offers “very interesting opportunities to reduce the volume of the inventories to be managed,” the report says. More and more states have developed their regulatory frameworks to establish the limits and conditions for implementing this approach. It says these developments “have a particular impact


20 | November 2024 | www.neimagazine.com


on the programmes and projects for the decommissioning of nuclear facilities since they facilitate the safe and significant reduction of the inventories of radioactive waste from decommissioning to be managed and disposed of at specific facilities”. States with small nuclear inventories face particular


challenges. The experience of more mature programmes shows that there are essential components to good waste management: suitable legislative and regulatory frameworks; access to knowledge and technology; availability of facilities and infrastructures; qualified personnel; financial resources; and a socio-political consensus. This requires “an effort at a demanding and continuous state level”. This is a complex challenge for states with small inventories of radioactive waste, who have to manage prioritisation, funding limitations and lack of awareness of social and environmental importance. But the report sees a growing number of states modernising their framework and infrastructure, establishing national policies and creating independent regulatory bodies. Those states that have small inventories of spent fuel


resulting from the operation of research reactors or small fleets of powerful reactors, face additional challenges to the large programmes. In these cases, difficulties often exist in the allocation of technical and financial resources while the management programme itself may be seen as a lower priority. Overall, the report says many countries have now


successfully established policies and strategies that have been stable over several decades and good progress has been made towards implementing them. However the report notes that maintaining a stable policy and strategy over time can be a challenge for various reasons: “As the possible management options can be changed, revisiting the decisions made in the past is important”. ■


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