Radio Active Waste Management: Underground Repository Method

Finding a solution for nuclear waste is a key issue, not only for the protection of the environment but also for the future of the nuclear industry. Ten years from now, when the first decisions for the replacement of existing nuclear power plants will have to be made, The general public will require to know the solution for nuclear waste before accepting new nuclear plants. In other words, an acceptable solution for the management of nuclear waste is a prerequisite for a renewal of nuclear power. Most existing wastes are being stored in safe conditions waiting for permanent solution, with some exceptions in the former Eastern Bloc. Temporary surface or shallow storage is a well known technique widely used all over the world. A significant research effort has been made by the author of this paper in the direction of underground repository. The underground repository appears to be a good solution. Trying to transform dangerous long lived radionuclides into less harmful short lived or stable elements is a logical idea. It is indeed possible to incinerate or transmute heavy atoms of long lived elements in fast breeder reactors or even in pressurised or boiling water reactors. There are also new types of reactors which could be used, namely accelerator driven systems. High level and long lived wastes (spent fuel and vitrified waste) contain a mixture of high activity (heat producing) short lived nuclides and low activity long lived alpha emitting nuclides. To avoid any alteration due to temperature of the engineered or geological barrier surrounding the waste underground, it is necessary to store the packages on the surface for several decades (50 years or more) to allow a sufficient temperature decrease before disposing of them underground. In all cases, surface (or shallow) storage is needed as a temporary solution. This paper gives a detailed and comprehensive view of the Deep Geological Repository, providing a pragmatic picture of the means to make this method, a universally acceptable one.