Environmental impact of radioactive waste management in the nuclear industry

1977 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin R. Phillips ◽  
H. Lin Pai
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Radioactive Waste Management

Norwegian Support in Development of Regulations of Radioactive Waste Management in Central Asia-Threat Assessment

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Zhunussova ◽  
Malgorzata Sneve ◽  
Astrid Liland ◽  
Alexander Kim ◽  
Ulmas Mirsaidov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Liquid Radioactive Waste ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Threat Assessment ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Radioactive Waste Management ◽  
Potential Health

In Central Asia (CA) the radioactive waste comes mainly from uranium mining and milling, nuclear weapon testing and nuclear power development and other ionizing sources. This waste was produced, to a greater extent, by the military-industrial complex and the uranium and non-uranium industry, and, to a lesser extent, by the nuclear industry and in the process of use of isotope products. Exploitation and mining of uranium and thorium deposits produce a large amount of solid and liquid radioactive waste, as well volatile contaminants which need a proper management. In Central Asia the wastes are mainly stored at the surface in large piles and represent a long-term potential health and environmental hazard. The process of remediating legacy sites of the past and reducing the threats is now getting under way, with the design and implementation of remediation activities, partly with international support. However, there is a significant lack in the regulatory basis for carrying out such remediation work, including a lack of relevant radiation and environmental safety norms and standards, licensing procedures and requirements for monitoring etc., as well as expertise to transform such a basis into practice. Accordingly, the objective of the proposed project is to assist the relevant regulatory authorities in Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan and Tajikistan to develop national robust and adequate regulations and procedures, taking into account the international guidance and Norwegian experience with regulatory support projects in Russia. Specific expected results in the project period include: a threat assessment report identifying priority areas for regulatory development, based on the status of current regulatory documents and the hazard presented by the different sites and facilities; development of national radioactive waste management strategies in each country; development of an enhanced regulatory framework for supervision of nuclear matters, and an enhanced safety culture.

Strategic Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment as Part of a Stepwise Decision Making Process

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Atherton ◽  
Ann McCall
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Strategic Environmental Assessment ◽  
Radioactive Waste Management ◽  
The Uk

Nirex is the organisation responsible for long-term radioactive waste management in the UK. Our Mission is to provide the UK with safe, environmentally sound and publicly acceptable options for the long-term management of radioactive materials. One of the lessons that Nirex has learned from previous experience in the UK and internationally is the importance of developing due process for finding a long-term solution for radioactive waste management. We have been investigating best practice in this area and incorporating the findings into the work that we undertake. Projects which will have an impact on the environment are subject to EC Directives on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The EIA Directive has already been implemented into law within Member States while the SEA Directive has to be implemented by 2004. Nirex believes that radioactive waste management programmes will have to adhere to the principles outlined in the Directives. Nirex has been investigating how the frameworks set out in the Directives could be used to: • Develop a stepwise approach to decision making in the UK; • Engage stakeholders during the stepwise decision making; • Enable stakeholders’ issues and concerns to be addressed. This paper will outline how Nirex has been developing its work in these areas including reference to the Nirex Involvement Programme, which uses different consultation and dialogue techniques to enable people to engage with Nirex’s work programme.

scholarly journals Institutional Conditions for the Development of the Nuclear-Industrial Complex and Radioactive Waste Management in Ukraine

2020 ◽  
pp. 49-62
Author(s):  
V. Shevchenko ◽  
◽  
А. Mukhachev ◽  
V. Lyashenko ◽  
N. Osadcha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Process Development ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Natural Uranium ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Radioactive Waste Management ◽  
The Creation

Trends in the development of the nuclear-industrial complex and radioactive waste management are analyzed. Among the main problems of development of the nuclear-industrial complex and radioactive waste management are the imperfection of the legal framework, lack of investment. The contribution of the nuclear industry of Ukraine to the creation of gross domestic product is not significant, but its role is important in ensuring economic security and achieving energy independence of the country. The state of the nuclear-industrial complex in other countries of the world has been studied. It is expedient to use an innovative approach for the development of the nuclear-industrial complex. This approach is presented as a set of three interrelated blocks, namely: methodological and informational; diagnostic and orientation; evaluation and procedural. Directly, the nuclear-industrial complex, which is a leading link in the nuclear-energy complex of Ukraine, can be considered a complex sector of the national economy, including: uranium production, which creates a basis for meeting the needs of nuclear power plants in natural uranium in the medium and long term; zirconium production, which involves the establishment of zirconium production. The results of the implementation of the regional program for the development of the nuclear-industrial complex should include the following: increasing the competitiveness of enterprises in key strategic industries: nuclear, mining, metallurgy, chemical and mechanical engineering; increasing the innovation of production through the development of scientific potential of the region, the commercialization of the scientific process; development of enterprises on the basis of the latest technologies of industrial waste processing, including for the development of the region's infrastructure; reduction of man-caused load on the environment; creating more attractive and diverse jobs; ensuring the stabilization of social processes in the mining regions. One of the directions of modernization of the nuclear-industrial complex of Ukraine is the creation of SMR reactors (Smallmodularreactor) and its installation instead of the existing ones. Their production must be carried out at Ukrainian enterprises. The necessity of increasing the volume of uranium production, the level of its enrichment and at the same time solving environmental issues on waste disposal is substantiated.

Legitimacy as the Key: The Long-Term Management of Radioactive Waste in the UK

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Murray ◽  
David Wild ◽  
Ann McCall ◽  
John Mathieson ◽  
Ben Russell
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Public Acceptance ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Radioactive Waste Management ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Term Management

This paper provides an overview of the current status of radioactive waste management in the UK from the point of view of Nirex, the organisation responsible for providing safe, environmentally sound and publicly acceptable options for the long-term management of radioactive materials. Essentially, it argues that: • the waste exists and must be dealt with in an ethical manner; • legitimacy is the key to public acceptance of any attempt to solve the waste issue; and • credible options and a new political will allow, and indeed, compel this generation to deal with it. In doing this, the paper takes account of a number of recent announcements and ongoing developments in the UK nuclear industry, in particular: • the recent announcement that Nirex is to be made independent of industry; • the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Devolved Administrations’ Managing Radioactive Waste Safely consultation exercise; • the creation of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management to oversee the consultation; • the creation of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to manage the civil nuclear site clean-up programme; • proposals for improved regulation of Intermediate Level Waste conditioning and packaging; and • proposals by the European Commission for a new radioactive waste Directive. These institutional and policy changes amount to an evolution of the back-end of the fuel cycle that represents the most radical transformation in the UK nuclear industry for many years. In a large part, this is a transformation made necessary by past failures in trying to impose a solution on the general public. Therefore, in order for these changes to result in a successful long-term radioactive waste management programme, it is necessary to pay as much attention to political and social concerns as scientific and technical ones. Primarily it is crucial that all parties involved act in an open and transparent manner so that the decisions made achieve a high degree of legitimacy and thus public acceptance. Crucially too, the problem must be framed in the correct term — that the waste exists irrespective of the future of nuclear power and that this is an issue that must be addressed now. Thus there is a legitimacy of purpose and scope in moving forward that addresses the ethical imperative of this generation dealing with the waste. Put together with the action the government is taking to create the necessary institutional framework, Nirex believes that for the first time in a generation the UK has the building blocks in place to find a publicly acceptable, long-term solution for radioactive waste.

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