Final Disposal Through Public Participation

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Van Negen
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Active Participation ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Innovative Approach ◽  
Final Disposal ◽  
Class A

Abstract The Context: • 1998. The Belgian government selects the existing nuclear sites for the long term disposal of Class A nuclear waste. • ONDRAF/NIRAS, the Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and enriched Fissile Materials, adopts an innovative approach of active participation and sysematic dialogue with the local communities.

An Electrodeless Melter for Vitrification of Nuclear Waste

1996 ◽  
Vol 465 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Freidberg ◽  
A. J. Shajii ◽  
K. W. Wenzel ◽  
J. R. Lierzer
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Thermal Analyses ◽  
Iron Core ◽  
Leaching Rate ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
High Silica ◽  
Waste Loading

ABSTRACTThis paper describes a new concept for a high-temperature, electrodeless melter for vitrifying radioactive wastes. Based on the principles of induction heating, it circumvents a number of difficulties associated with existing technology. The melter can operate at higher temperatures (1500–2000°C vs 1150°C), allowing for a higher quality, more durable glass which reduces the long-term leaching rate. Higher processing temperatures also enable conversion from borosilicate to high-silica glass which can accommodate 2 to 3 times as much radioactive waste, potentially halving the ultimate required long-term disposal space. Finally, with high temperatures, conversion of nuclear waste into ceramics can also be considered. This too leads to higher waste loading and the reduction of repository space. The melter is toroidal, linked by an iron core transformer that allows efficient electrical operation even at 60 Hz. One-dimensional electrical and thermal analyses are presented.

Stakeholder Opinions on the Use of the Added Value Approach in Siting Radioactive Waste Management Facilities

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matti Kojo ◽  
Phil Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Site Selection ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Nuclear Waste Management ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Waste Facility

In some countries nuclear waste facility siting programs include social and economic benefits, compensation, local empowerment and motivation measures and other incentives for the potential host community. This can generally be referred to as an ‘added value approach’. Demonstration of the safety of a repository is seen as a precondition of an added value approach. Recently much focus has been placed on studying and developing public participation approaches but less on the use of such incentive and community benefit packages, although they are becoming a more common element in many site selection strategies for nuclear waste management facilities. The primary objective of this paper is to report on an ongoing study of stakeholders’ opinions of the use of an added value approach in siting a radioactive waste facility in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia. The paper argues that an added value approach should adapt to the interests and needs of stakeholders during different stages of a siting process. The main question posed in the study is as follows: What are the measures which should be included in ‘added value approach’ according to the stakeholders? The research data consists of stakeholders’ responses to a survey focusing on the use of added value (community benefits) and incentives in siting nuclear waste management facilities. The survey involved use of a questionnaire developed as part of the EU-funded IPPA* project in three countries: the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia. (* Implementing Public Participation Approaches in Radioactive Waste Disposal, FP7 Contract Number: 269849). The target audiences for the questionnaires were the stakeholders represented in the national stakeholder groups established to discuss site selection for a nuclear waste repository in their country. A total of 105 questionnaires were sent to the stakeholders between November 2011 and January 2012. 44 questionnaires were returned, resulting in a total response rate of 41% (10/29 in the Czech Republic, 11/14 in Poland and in 23/64 in Slovenia).

scholarly journals Alternative Disposal Options for High-Level Radioactive Waste

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 259-260
Author(s):  
Matthias Englert ◽  
Simone Mohr ◽  
Saleem Chaudry ◽  
Stephan Kurth
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Site Selection ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Final Disposal ◽  
High Level Radioactive Waste ◽  
Disposal Options ◽  
Deep Boreholes ◽  
High Level

Abstract. Are alternatives to the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in a geology repository conceivable? We present the results of the first phase of a research project on the state of the art in science and technology for alternative disposal options. The project is financed by the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management. Most recently, in 2015, the German Commission on the Storage of High-Level Radioactive Waste (Endlagerkommission) evaluated possible disposal technologies and classified them as either promising, conceivable, or to be pursued further. Only final disposal in a geological repository was considered promising. Conceivable, but not immediately available or not advantageous, were storage in deep boreholes (DBs), long-term interim storage (LTIS), and partitioning and transmutation (P&T). All other alternative disposal options by burial, dilution, or removal from the planet were determined not to be worth pursuing. The Disposal Commission did conclude that none of the three conceivable methods (DBs, LTIS, P&T) would result in earlier disposal of high-level radioactive waste than the preferred final disposal in a mine. However, it recommended continued tracking and regular monitoring of the future development of alternative disposal options, e.g., disposal in deep boreholes. Finally, in 2017, with the amended Site Selection Act, the federal government specified disposal in a repository mine with the option of retrieval during operation or recovery for 500 years after closure. In a learning site selection process, the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Disposal (BASE) reviews the proposals of the project managing company, the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE), and prepares a reasoned recommendation to the federal government for a site with the best possible safety. Part of the reasoned recommendation is, among other things, a discussion of alternative disposal options to final disposal in deep geological formations. In the presentation, we report on the status of international research on alternative disposal options, discuss advantages and disadvantages of the technologies, and evaluate the potential of the technologies for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in Germany. The LTIS is designed as dry storage in a building to be constructed above ground or near the surface and is expected to last for a period of several hundred years. With LTIS it would be possible to gain time for the development of a suitable final disposal option; however, this also postpones the disposal issue indefinitely into the future with undetermined methods. DB storage would involve sinking the storage containers into boreholes with depths of up to 5000 m. This could reduce the expense and be particularly advantageous for smaller inventories, although the potential for the use of engineered barriers would be limited and retrievability precluded according to the current state of the art in science and technology. P&T is primarily intended to separate long-lived transuranic elements from high-level radioactive waste and then convert them to short-lived fission products by neutron irradiation in reactors. The main goal is to reduce the necessary containment times in the repository by changing the inventory, but the effort to treat the waste would be significant and a repository for high-level nuclear waste is still needed. More exotic ideas for alternative disposal include deep geological injection of liquid waste, waste forms that melt themselves into rock, storage inside the ocean floor or subduction zones, shipment to space, burial in ice sheets, or dilution in the atmosphere and oceans. None of these exotic options is currently being actively pursued.

Engineering for good: A case of community driven engineering innovation

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chinweike Eseonu ◽  
Martin A Cortes
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Technology Innovation ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
First Year ◽  
Engineering Curriculum ◽  
Engineering Design Process ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
Social Consideration

There is a culture of disengagement from social consideration in engineering disciplines. This means that first year engineering students, who arrive planning to change the world through engineering, lose this passion as they progress through the engineering curriculum. The community driven technology innovation and investment program described in this paper is an attempt to reverse this trend by fusing community engagement with the normal engineering design process. This approach differs from existing project or trip based approaches – outreach – because the focus is on local communities with which the university team forms a long-term partnership through weekly in-person meetings and community driven problem statements – engagement.

scholarly journals Seigneurial governance and the state in late medieval Guelders (14th–16th century)

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-59
Author(s):  
Jim van der Meulen
Keyword(s):  
State Formation ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
The State ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Central Argument

AbstractThis article charts the long-term development of seigneurial governance within the principality of Guelders in the Low Countries. Proceeding from four quantitative cross-sections (c. 1325, 1475, 1540, 1570) of seigneurial lordships, the conclusion is that seigneurial governance remained stable in late medieval Guelders. The central argument is that this persistence of seigneurial governance was an effect of active collaboration between princely administrations, lords, and local communities. Together, the princely government and seigneuries of Guelders formed an integrated, yet polycentric, state. The article thereby challenges the narrative of progressive state centralisation that predominates in the historiography of pre-modern state formation.

scholarly journals Solubility Product of Vanadinite Pb5(VO4)3Cl at 25 °C—A Comprehensive Approach to Incongruent Dissolution Modeling

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Justyna Topolska ◽  
Bartosz Puzio ◽  
Olaf Borkiewicz ◽  
Julia Sordyl ◽  
Maciej Manecki
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Solubility Product ◽  
Geochemical Modeling ◽  
Incongruent Dissolution ◽  
Mineral Solubility ◽  
Actual Application ◽  
Universal Approach ◽  
Solubility Constant ◽  
First Time

Although vanadinite (Pb5(VO4)3Cl) occurs in abundance in various terrestrial geochemical systems of natural and anthropogenic origin and is seriously considered as a potential nuclear waste sequestering agent, its actual application is severely limited by a lack of understanding of its basic thermodynamic parameters. In this regard, the greatest challenge is posed by its incongruent dissolution, which is a pivotal hurdle for effective geochemical modeling. Our paper presents an universal approach for geochemical computing of systems undergoing incongruent dissolution which, along with unique, long-term experiments on vanadinites’ stability, allowed us to determine the mineral solubility constant. The dissolution experiments were carried out at pH = 3.5 for 12 years. Vanadinite has dissolved incongruently, continuously re-precipitating into chervetite (Pb2V2O7) with the two minerals remaining in mutual equilibrium until termination of the experiments. The empirically derived solubility constant Ksp,V,298 = 10–91.89 ± 0.05 of vanadinite was determined for the first time. The proposed modeling method is versatile and can be adopted to other mineral systems undergoing incongruent dissolution.

An Assessment of the Long-Term Durability of Concrete in Radioactive Waste Repositories

1985 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Atkinson ◽  
D. J. Goult ◽  
J. A. Hearne
Keyword(s):  
Reinforced Concrete ◽  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Concrete Slab ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Preliminary Assessment ◽  
Reinforced Concrete Slab ◽  
Radioactive Waste Repositories ◽  
Waste Repositories ◽  
Durability Of Concrete

AbstractA preliminary assessment of the long-term durability of concrete in a repository sited in clay is presented. The assessment is based on recorded experience of concrete structures and both field and laboratory studies. It is also supported by results of the examination of a concrete sample which had been buried in clay for 43 years.The enoineering lifetime of a 1 m thick reinforced concrete slab, with one face in contact with clay, and the way in which pH in the repository as a whole is likely to vary with time have both been estimated from available data. The estimates indicate that engineering lifetimes of about 103 years are expected (providing that sulphate resisting cement is used) and that pH is likely to remain above 10.5 for about 106 years.

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