NEA seabed program: US role

The reference seabed disposal concept includes the transport by rail or truck of solidified reprocessed high-level radioactive wastes or spent nuclear fuel elements in shielded shipping casks to port facilities. At the port facilities the waste packages are prepared for burial in the stable sediments of the deep ocean floor and placed on ocean transport and emplacement ships. The ships transport the wastes to the subseabed repository site. At the site the specially designed waste containers are buried tens of meters into the red clay sediments, located near the center of stable tectonic plates of the ocean floor, under the hub of a surface circulating water mass, away from shipping lanes, communication cables, and in areas low in natural resources. Following emplacement, the subseabed repository site is monitored to assure correct emplacement and to take corrective actions if necessary. Areas of both the North Pacific and North Atlantic are being assessed as candidate seabed repository sites. 7 figures