IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i17p6215-d1226216.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global Review of International Nuclear Waste Management

Author

Listed:
  • Pablo Fernández-Arias

    (Technology, Instruction and Design in Engineering and Education Research Group, Catholic University of Ávila, 05005 Ávila, Spain)

  • Diego Vergara

    (Technology, Instruction and Design in Engineering and Education Research Group, Catholic University of Ávila, 05005 Ávila, Spain)

  • Álvaro Antón-Sancho

    (Technology, Instruction and Design in Engineering and Education Research Group, Catholic University of Ávila, 05005 Ávila, Spain)

Abstract

In the current situation of global energy transition, nuclear energy maintains its reputation as a stable power generation technology, without dependence on other resources and without CO 2 emissions. However, one of the main problems with its use is the management of the radioactive waste it generates, which has given rise to different international strategies: (i) reprocessing; (ii) storage; and (iii) disposal. Given the interest generated by nuclear energy in recent times and the need to manage the waste generated, this paper presents a global review of the different international nuclear waste management strategies, using a scientific method based on (i) a bibliometric review of the scientific publications related to nuclear waste management and (ii) an analysis of the technical aspects of the different international management strategies. The effective and safe management of nuclear waste will contribute to the advancement of international nuclear energy development strategies that encourage the construction of new nuclear power plants and the lifetime extension of existing ones.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:17:p:6215-:d:1226216
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/17/6215/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/17/6215/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xu, Yi-chong, 2008. "Nuclear energy in China: Contested regimes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1197-1205.
    2. James T. Hamilton, 1993. "Politics and Social Costs: Estimating the Impact of Collective Action on Hazardous Waste Facilities," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 24(1), pages 101-125, Spring.
    3. Raminta Pranckutė, 2021. "Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus: The Titans of Bibliographic Information in Today’s Academic World," Publications, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-59, March.
    4. Haibin Chen & Wei Jiang & Yan Yang & Xin Man & Mingyi Tang, 2015. "A bibliometric analysis of waste management research during the period 1997–2014," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(2), pages 1005-1018, November.
    5. Alena Harbiankova & Sławomir Kalinowski, 2023. "MSW Management to Zero Waste: Challenges and Perspectives in Belarus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-22, January.
    6. Laura Rodríguez-Penalonga & B. Yolanda Moratilla Soria, 2017. "A Review of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Strategies and the Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, August.
    7. Hyatt, Neil C., 2017. "Plutonium management policy in the United Kingdom: The need for a dual track strategy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 303-309.
    8. Michael I. Ojovan & Hans J. Steinmetz, 2022. "Approaches to Disposal of Nuclear Waste," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-23, October.
    9. Černoch, Filip & Zapletalová, Veronika, 2015. "Hinkley point C: A new chance for nuclear power plant construction in central Europe?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 165-168.
    10. Mikołaj Oettingen, 2021. "Assessment of the Radiotoxicity of Spent Nuclear Fuel from a Fleet of PWR Reactors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-23, May.
    11. Grubler, Arnulf, 2010. "The costs of the French nuclear scale-up: A case of negative learning by doing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 5174-5188, September.
    12. Suh, Jung Woo & Sohn, So Young & Lee, Bo Kyeong, 2020. "Patent clustering and network analyses to explore nuclear waste management technologies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    13. Yan Xu & Junjie Kang & Jiahai Yuan, 2018. "The Prospective of Nuclear Power in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-21, June.
    14. Pablo Fernández-Arias & Diego Vergara & Álvaro Antón-Sancho, 2023. "Bibliometric Review and Technical Summary of PWR Small Modular Reactors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-15, July.
    15. Benjamin Johnson & Alexandra Newman & Jeffrey King, 2017. "Optimizing high-level nuclear waste disposal within a deep geologic repository," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 253(2), pages 733-755, June.
    16. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2010. "Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 523-538, August.
    17. 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.
    18. Wolfram Kaiser, 2022. "Destined to Brexit? British Pathways to Membership in the European Communities 1945–73," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(S2), pages 9-19, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Dušan Nikolić & Dragan Ivanović & Lidija Ivanović, 2024. "An open-source tool for merging data from multiple citation databases," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(7), pages 4573-4595, July.
    2. Yakira Fernández-Torres & Clara Gallego-Sosa & Milagros Gutiérrez-Fernández, 2025. "Do women board members contribute to companies’ superior environmental performance? A literature review," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 19(5), pages 1513-1565, May.
    3. Seema Bhardwaj & Kiran Nair & Muhammad Usman Tariq & Asad Ahmad & Asmita Chitnis, 2023. "The State of Research in Green Marketing: A Bibliometric Review from 2005 to 2022," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-16, February.
    4. Yang Yang & Zhe Dong & Bing-Bing Zhou & Yang Liu, 2024. "Smart Growth and Smart Shrinkage: A Comparative Review for Advancing Urban Sustainability," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, May.
    5. Pablo Ortega Carrasco & Fabio Iannone & Vera Ferrón Vílchez & Francesco Testa, 2025. "Green public procurement as an effective way for sustainable development: A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 2364-2391, April.
    6. Abdelkebir Sahid & Yassine Maleh & Karim Ouazzane, 2025. "Changing landscape of fake news research on social media: a bibliometric analysis," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 901-954, April.
    7. Lilian de C. Moraes Pinto & José G. Dórea & José Vicente Elias Bernardi & Leonardo Fernandes Gomes, 2019. "Mapping the Evolution of Mercury (Hg) Research in the Amazon (1991–2017): A Scientometric Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-12, March.
    8. Precious Chikezie Ezeh & Kaitano Dube, 2024. "Willingness to Pay in Tourism and Its Influence on Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-16, December.
    9. 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.
    10. Samson Anjikwi Malgwi & Ropo Ebenezer Ogunsakin & Abolade David Oladepo & Matthew Adekunle Adeleke & Moses Okpeku, 2023. "A Forty-Year Analysis of the Literature on Babesia Infection (1982–2022): A Systematic Bibliometric Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(12), pages 1-19, June.
    11. Benjamin Tawiah & Emmanuel A. Ofori & Fei Bin, 2023. "Scientometric Review of Sustainable Fire-Resistant Polysaccharide-Based Composite Aerogels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-34, August.
    12. Yolanda Fuentes-Peñaranda & Alma Labarta-González-Vallarino & Elena Arroyo-Bello & Marina Gómez de Quero Córdoba, 2025. "Global Trends in Diabetic Foot Research (2004–2023): A Bibliometric Study Based on the Scopus Database," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(4), pages 1-30, March.
    13. Gisleine Carmo & Luiz Flávio Felizardo & Valderí Castro Alcântara & Cristiane Aparecida Silva & José Willer Prado, 2023. "The impact of Jürgen Habermas’s scientific production: a scientometric review," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(3), pages 1853-1875, March.
    14. Kristijan Brglez & Matjaž Perc & Rebeka Kovačič Lukman, 2024. "The complexity and interconnectedness of circular cities and the circular economy for sustainability," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 2049-2065, June.
    15. Michael Olumekor, 2024. "Fuzzy Methods in Entrepreneurship Research," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 33(2), pages 365-392, May.
    16. Yuhui Jing & Leying Zhao & Keke Zhu & Haoming Wang & Chengliang Wang & Qi Xia, 2023. "Research Landscape of Adaptive Learning in Education: A Bibliometric Study on Research Publications from 2000 to 2022," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    17. Norhazimah Che Hassan & Aisyah Abdul-Rahman & Syajarul Imna Mohd Amin & Siti Ngayesah Ab Hamid, 2023. "Investment Intention and Decision Making: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-22, February.
    18. Congying Fang & Riken Homma & Tianfu Qiu, 2024. "A Bibliometrics Analysis Related to the Built Environment and Walking," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-17, March.
    19. 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.
    20. Pedro Antonio Martín-Cervantes & Parisa Ziarati & Pablo de Frutos Madrazo & Iza Gigauri, 2025. "Digital Marketing as a Driver of Change Towards the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-24, June.

    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:16:y:2023:i:17:p:6215-:d:1226216. 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.