The management of used nuclear fuel and high level nuclear waste in Europe. A report for the Lovar Foundation for the Protection of the Environment

Nuclear power is an emotive subject. Few other issues in Europe today raise greater political and public concern or have the power to provoke such heated debate or the capacity to polarise public thinking. On one side the pro-nuclear lobby is passionately in favour while, on the other side, the anti-nuclear campaigners are vehemently opposed. It is important to realise that nuclear power is already an important source of energy and that it provides almost 35% of the electricity generated in Europe. It is also certain that, for as long as electricity remains a major source of power, nuclear energy will be able to provide it. For these reasons, it is likely that nuclear power will remain a permanent part of our energy requirement. Strong environmental arguments have been made both for and against the nuclear industry. One issue that cannot be ignored, however, is that of the disposal or treatment of the used fuels and other highly radioactive wastes that are an inevitable result of using nuclear energy to produce electricity. There is already a need to store waste that has been produced from existing nuclear reactors but, because this waste has to be kept in safe storage for decades prior to disposal or recycle, there is time to optimise the waste management systems. An important aspect of waste management will be long term compliance with safety criteria set by regulatory bodies and the methods used to ensure compliance. The fate of the waste is clearly of concern to all of us, because it will remain dangerously radioactive for a very long time. Much of the public fear of the nuclear industry stems from a natural concern over the management of these highly radioactive wastes. When public decisions are made on environmental issues, it is important that the public are made aware of the facts on which these decisions are made. These facts must be presented in an understandable fashion without the intrusion of propaganda from extreme pro- or anti-nuclear lobbies. The purpose of this report is to provide an explanation of the options available for the management of used nuclear fuels and highly radioactive waste. It is hoped that these explanations are presented in an unbiased way that is understandable to readers without a scientific background. A bibliography is, however, provided for those who wish to check the contents of the report, where possible, in peer reviewed literature sources. It has not been part of our remit to draw environmental conclusions on the content of the report, or to criticise the policies of governments or argue for or against any particular way of dealing with nuclear waste. The full report is divided into five chapters and three appendices. Following the introduction, Chapter 2 contains a description of the origins, characteristics and regulation of used nuclear fuel; the options for used fuel management are examined in Chapter 3; Chapter 4 contains a description of the environmental consequences of used fuel waste management; and Chapter 5 provides a comparison of the problems associates with radioactive waste compared with those of chemically toxic waste. The appendices contain detail on the properties of radioactive materials, radiation protection, and the ways in which European countries have dealt with spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste