TECHNICAL | GEOLOGICAL DISPOSAL
WASTE DISPOSAL: ENGINEERING THE KEY NUCLEAR CHALLENGE
Scientists agree that geological disposal is the best solution when considering the very long-term storage of high activity nuclear waste materials but to develop such a massive engineering project requires community buy-in from the get go. By Steve Reece, Head of GDF Siting at Nuclear Waste Services
Nuclear technology has been part of our lives for over 60 years. It provides a substantial proportion of global low-carbon electricity and is used across industry, medicine, and defence. And, if the industry’s ambitions are realised, we will soon come to rely on it even more as a source of energy for the years to come. As a result of these activities though, we have a legacy of radioactive waste, some of which we need to continue to manage safely today and for the thousands of years that it will remain a hazard. Delivering a safe, secure, and permanent solution for
this higher-activity radioactive waste represents one of the most significant challenges and opportunities of our time; its complexity underlined by the wide range of engineering and technical expertise required. Development of a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF)
is the only viable, internationally accepted solution to managing the most radioactive waste in the long term. This underground facility, which is designed to dispose of radioactive waste in highly engineered vaults and tunnels deep underground, will be housed within suitable geology potentially hundreds of metres beneath the surface.
As an indicator of the sheer scale of this challenge,
the UK is expected to have more than 4 million cubic metres of waste to recover and treat to complete the national decommissioning programme, with over 770,000 cubic metres of higher activity waste ultimately destined for a GDF. While radioactive waste can be safely stored above
ground, these facilities require ongoing maintenance and need replacing every 50-100 years. Investing in a GDF now removes these issues entirely, offering a permanent solution for the thousands of years it takes for radioactivity to naturally decay. Development of a GDF has been part of government
policy to manage radioactive waste in many nations. In the UK it has been an explicit policy since 2006, for example. A GDF also represents a substantial infrastructure
project. Developing such a facility in the UK comes with an expected cost range of £20-53bn and will span around 175 years. A GDF could offer unique opportunities for generations of engineers. The diversity of skills and level of resource required will test our engineering sector. As a multi-disciplined
Right:
ONKALO in Finland is slated to be the world’s first operating deep geological disposal site
42 | July 2023
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