Progress report - August 1991

This report has been prepared by the Synroc Study Group (SSG), comprising staff members of The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, The Australian National University, The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited, CRA Limited, Energy Resources of Australia Limited and Western Mining Corporation Limited. It also draws upon work undertaken for the SSG by consultants from Nuclear Assurance Corporation (market estimates), the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) (cost estimates and other data) and Wave Hill Associates (US and international perspectives). Synroc is applicable solely to the immobilisation of liquid high-level waste after such waste has been separated from spent fuel in a reprocessing operation; use of Synroc therefore requires prior construction of a reprocessing plant. The study identifies five broad options in which Synroc can contribute to the safe disposal of nuclear spent fuel. These are: licensing Synroc for overseas organisations - allowing overseas use of the technology with royalties remitted to Australia; participation in overseas Synroc plants - using Australian expertise to trial Synroc facilities; reprocessing and Synroc operations in Australia with waste re-exported to customers for disposal overseas; establishment of an integrated spent fuel management facility outside Australia including a Synroc facility and final disposal; establish an integrated spent fuel management facility in Australia, including a Synroc facility and final disposal. An account of the SSG's public acceptance initiatives and activities to date, is found in Appendix II. Appendix III contains material derived from the SKB work on the costs of providing various waste management services, and outlines the economic factors affecting estimates of these costs. 86 refs., 13 tabs., 9 figs