IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v15y2022i20p7804-d949695.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Approaches to Disposal of Nuclear Waste

Author

Listed:
  • Michael I. Ojovan

    (Department of Materials, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK)

  • Hans J. Steinmetz

    (Faculty of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Heinrich-Mußmann-Straße 1, 52428 Jülich, Germany)

Abstract

We present a concise mini overview on the approaches to the disposal of nuclear waste currently used or deployed. The disposal of nuclear waste is the end point of nuclear waste management (NWM) activities and is the emplacement of waste in an appropriate facility without the intention to retrieve it. The IAEA has developed an internationally accepted classification scheme based on the end points of NWM, which is used as guidance. Retention times needed for safe isolation of waste radionuclides are estimated based on the radiotoxicity of nuclear waste. Disposal facilities usually rely on a multi-barrier defence system to isolate the waste from the biosphere, which comprises the natural geological barrier and the engineered barrier system. Disposal facilities could be of a trench type, vaults, tunnels, shafts, boreholes, or mined repositories. A graded approach relates the depth of the disposal facilities’ location with the level of hazard. Disposal practices demonstrate the reliability of nuclear waste disposal with minimal expected impacts on the environment and humans.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael I. Ojovan & Hans J. Steinmetz, 2022. "Approaches to Disposal of Nuclear Waste," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-23, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:20:p:7804-:d:949695
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/20/7804/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/20/7804/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geoff A. Freeze & Emily Stein & Patrick V. Brady & Carlos Lopez & David Sassani & Karl Travis & Fergus Gibb & John Beswick, 2019. "Deep Borehole Disposal Safety Case," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-21, June.
    2. Viacheslav Pershukov & Vladimir Artisyuk & Andrey Kashirsky, 2022. "Paving the Way to Green Status for Nuclear Power," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-10, July.
    3. Richard A. Muller & Stefan Finsterle & John Grimsich & Rod Baltzer & Elizabeth A. Muller & James W. Rector & Joe Payer & John Apps, 2019. "Disposal of High-Level Nuclear Waste in Deep Horizontal Drillholes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-28, May.
    4. Neil A. Chapman, 2019. "Who Might Be Interested in a Deep Borehole Disposal Facility for Their Radioactive Waste?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, April.
    5. Guido Bracke & Wolfram Kudla & Tino Rosenzweig, 2019. "Status of Deep Borehole Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste in Germany," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-15, July.
    6. Michael I. Ojovan, 2022. "Challenges in the Long-Term Behaviour of Highly Radioactive Materials," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-3, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jānis Krūmiņš & Māris Kļaviņš, 2023. "Investigating the Potential of Nuclear Energy in Achieving a Carbon-Free Energy Future," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-31, April.
    2. Pablo Fernández-Arias & Diego Vergara & Álvaro Antón-Sancho, 2023. "Global Review of International Nuclear Waste Management," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Zoran Drace & Michael I. Ojovan & Susanta Kumar Samanta, 2022. "Challenges in Planning of Integrated Nuclear Waste Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-13, October.
    4. Nailia Rakhimova, 2022. "Recent Advances in Alternative Cementitious Materials for Nuclear Waste Immobilization: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-25, December.
    5. Svetlana A. Kulikova & Kseniya Y. Belova & Anna V. Frolova & Sergey E. Vinokurov, 2023. "The Use of Dolomite to Produce a Magnesium Potassium Phosphate Matrix for Radioactive Waste Conditioning," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-13, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stefan Finsterle & Richard A. Muller & John Grimsich & Ethan A. Bates & John Midgley, 2021. "Post-Closure Safety Analysis of Nuclear Waste Disposal in Deep Vertical Boreholes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-24, October.
    2. Dirk Mallants & Karl Travis & Neil Chapman & Patrick V. Brady & Hefin Griffiths, 2020. "The State of the Science and Technology in Deep Borehole Disposal of Nuclear Waste," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-7, February.
    3. Jingyu Shi & Baotang Shen & Manoj Khanal & Dirk Mallants, 2022. "Analytical and Numerical Estimation of Fracture Initiation and Propagation Regions around Large-Diameter, Deep Boreholes for Disposal of Long-Lived Intermediate-Level Waste," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-24, March.
    4. Victor Malkovsky & Sergey Yudintsev & Michael Ojovan, 2023. "Forecast of 241 Am Migration from a System of Deep Horizontal Boreholes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-15, October.
    5. Elaine Aparecida Rodrigues & Maurício Lamano Ferreira & Amanda Rodrigues de Carvalho & José Oscar William Vega Bustillos & Rodrigo Antonio Braga Moraes Victor & Marcelo Gomes Sodré & Delvonei Alves de, 2022. "Land, Water, and Climate Issues in Large and Megacities under the Lens of Nuclear Science: An Approach for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG11)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-19, October.
    6. Hosam M. Saleh & Amal I. Hassan, 2023. "Radioactivity: Sustainable Materials and Innovative Techniques," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-6, March.
    7. Mikhail Alyapyshev & Vasiliy Babain & Dmitry Kirsanov, 2022. "Isolation and Purification of Actinides Using N,O-Hybrid Donor Ligands for Closing the Nuclear Fuel Cycle," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-31, October.
    8. Stefan Finsterle & Cal Cooper & Richard A. Muller & John Grimsich & John Apps, 2020. "Sealing of a Deep Horizontal Borehole Repository for Nuclear Waste," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-29, December.
    9. Geoff A. Freeze & Emily Stein & Patrick V. Brady, 2019. "Post-Closure Performance Assessment for Deep Borehole Disposal of Cs/Sr Capsules," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-15, May.
    10. Joe H. Payer & Stefan Finsterle & John A. Apps & Richard A. Muller, 2019. "Corrosion Performance of Engineered Barrier System in Deep Horizontal Drillholes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, April.
    11. Bader Alshuraiaan & Sergey Pushkin & Anastasia Kurilova & Magdalena Mazur, 2021. "Management of the Energy and Economic Potential of Nuclear Waste Use," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-14, June.
    12. Geoff A. Freeze & Emily Stein & Patrick V. Brady & Carlos Lopez & David Sassani & Karl Travis & Fergus Gibb & John Beswick, 2019. "Deep Borehole Disposal Safety Case," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-21, June.
    13. Zoran Drace & Michael I. Ojovan & Susanta Kumar Samanta, 2022. "Challenges in Planning of Integrated Nuclear Waste Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-13, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:20:p:7804-:d:949695. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.