Nuclear Waste

 Road Map

1. Nuclear Waste Disposal: Amounts of Waste

Categories of Nuclear Waste

Wastes from Commercial Reactors

Hazard Measures for Nuclear Wastes

1.1 Categories of Nuclear Waste

The Nature of the Problem

Military and Civilian Wastes

Wastes from commercial nuclear reactors raise more critical
issues the amounts are greater, their production continues…

Form As with all radioactive sources,

Half lifetime radioactive waste is potentially
Radioactivity level hazardous to health. Therefore, it
must be managed in a safe way to
protect people and the environment
Good waste management begins before the waste
is generated:
the starting point for all activities that produce radioactive
waste is to avoid or reduce waste generation at its
source.

Minimizing primary waste generation also minimizes the

quantity of waste requiring disposal.
Bad News: Wastes from commercial nuclear reactors raise
more critical issues the amounts are greater, their
production continues…

Good News: The world has over half a century’s knowledge

and experience on how to deal with nuclear waste. When
the characteristics of the waste are known, it can be
managed. -IAEA
Types of Waste
 High-level waste (HLW)
 Transuranic waste (TRU)
 Low-level waste (LLW)
 Uranium Mill Tailings

This categorization varies slightly from country to country,

but in principle the main criteria for determining the type of
waste are derived from radioactive content and half-life, i.e.
the time taken for the waste to lose half of its radioactivity.
Types of Waste
•High-Level Waste
•The most dangerous radioactive waste
•Spent fuel comes from nuclear
reactors (52,000 tons)
• liquid and solid waste from
plutonium production (91 million
gallons).
•About 70 percent of the available
storage space is now filled with used
fuel assemblies at Turkey Point.
 Types of Waste

Transuranic Waste

 Includesclothing, tools,
and other materials
contaminated with
plutonium, neptunium,
and other man-made
elements heavier than
uranium.
Types of Waste

 Low and Mixed Low-Level Waste

 Includes radioactive and hazardous wastes from
hospitals, research institutions, and
decommissioned power plants (472 million cubic
feet)
Types of Waste

Uranium Mill Tailings

•Residues left from the
extraction of uranium
ore (265 million tons)).
Mining
 Uranium ore is usually
located aerially; core samples are then
drilled and analyzed by geologists. The uranium
ore is extracted by means of drilling and
blasting. Mines can be in either open pits or
underground. Uranium concentrations are a
small percentage of the rock that is mined, so
tons of tailings waste are generated by the
mining process.
 Production in 2000

Canada 10,682
Australia 7,578
Niger 2,895
Namibia 2,714 company tonnes U
Uzbekistan 2,350 Cameco 7218
Russia (est) 2,000 Cogema 6643
Kazakhstan 1,752 WMC 3693
USA 1,456 ERA 3564
South Africa 878 Navoi 2400
China (est) 500 Rossing 2239
Ukraine (est) 500 KazAtomProm 2018
Czech Republic 500 Priargunsky 2000
India (est) 200
France 319
others 422
Total world 34,746
Source: http://www.world-nuclear.org/search/index.htm
Whatever the type of the radioactive waste, all
of it has to be disposed of in a safe manner!

It is a common misbelief
that radioactive waste
takes up a lot of space.
However, all the spent
fuel generated by two
860 MW reactors during
their 40 years of
operation would fit into
three 10 metre by ten
metre pools.
 Measures of Waste Magnitudes

Mass: The most common mass measure for nuclear waste is the
mass of the uranium in the initial fuel, more broadly designated as
metric tonnes of initial heavy metal (MTIHM or MTHM)

Volume: The volume of the fuel can be inferred from the UO2
mass and density (about 10 tonnes/m3).
 Radioactivity: in terms of the activity (in curies or
becquerels) taken either for the radionuclides
individually or for their sum. radionuclides differ in
the types of particles emitted, their energy, the
half-lives, and the possibility of their reaching
thebiosphere. Nonetheless, it provides some overall
perspective.

 Heat output: on the scale of 6 kW of heat are

produced per megacurie of activity
1.2 Wastes from Commercial Reactors
Mass and Volume per GWyr
Activity of selected radionuclides in spent fuel versus time
since discharge of fuel from reactor
Activity of selected radionuclides as a function of time
 Heat Production
The handling of the nuclear wastes is significantly complicated
by the heat generated in the decay of the radionuclides

The heat generation per unit activity depends on the energy

carried by the emitted particles.

1 megacurie → 5.93 kW (at 1 MeV per disintegration).

Decay of spent fuel from 1 GWyr of PWR operation, for
burnup of 40 GWd/t (28.5 MTHM): activity and thermal output
as a function of time since discharge.
1.3 Hazard Measures for Nuclear Wastes
Total System Performance Assessments (TSPAs)

The maximum permissible concentration is established as the

maximum level acceptable for drinking water

is closely related to the annual limit on intake (ALI). 20 mSv/yr

The water dilution volume (in cubic meters) is the amount of

water required to dilute the radionuclide to the maximum
permissible concentration.
Illustration of use of water dilution volume: WDV of
radionuclides in PWR spent fuel, as a function of time
.

Thank you !!!