Rising demands. Management of spent fuel from nuclear power plants

Last year about 10,000 tonnes of heavy metal were discharged as spent fuel from the world's nuclear power plants after use for the production of electricity. This spent fuel was placed in storage at specially designed facilities, kept and monitored for later retrieval either for reprocessing or later disposal in repositories. In the coming years, the storage of greater quantities of spent fuel for longer periods of time is projected. As a result, the world's nuclear industries are building new storage facilities, expanding existing ones, and putting into practice technologies to ensure more effective long-term storage. This article presents an overview of approaches that countries are following for the management of spent fuel from nuclear power plants, and briefly describes selected IAEA activities in the field