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Deep geological repository
Nuclear waste repository excavated deep within a stable geologic environment

A deep geological repository is a way of storing hazardous or radioactive waste within a stable geologic environment, typically 200–1,000 m below the surface of the earth. It entails a combination of waste form, waste package, engineered seals and geology that is suited to provide a high level of long-term isolation and containment without future maintenance. This is intended to prevent radioactive dangers. A number of mercury, cyanide and arsenic waste repositories are operating worldwide including Canada (Giant Mine) and Germany (potash mines in Herfa-Neurode and Zielitz). Radioactive waste storage sites are under construction with the Onkalo in Finland being the most advanced.

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Principles and background

Highly toxic waste that cannot be further recycled must be stored in isolation, to avoid contamination of air, ground and underground water. Deep geological repository is a type of long-term storage that isolates waste in geological structures that are expected to be stable for millions of years, with a number of natural and engineered barriers. Natural barriers include water-impermeable (e.g. clay) and gas-impermeable (e.g. salt) layers of rock above and surrounding the underground storage.4 Engineered barriers include bentonite clay and cement.56

In 2011, the International Panel on Fissile Materials said:

It is widely accepted that spent nuclear fuel and high-level reprocessing and plutonium wastes require well-designed storage for periods ranging from tens of thousands to a million years, to minimize releases of the contained radioactivity into the environment. Safeguards are also required to ensure that neither plutonium nor highly enriched uranium is diverted to weapon use. There is general agreement that placing spent nuclear fuel in repositories hundreds of meters below the surface would be safer than indefinite storage of spent fuel on the surface [of the earth].7

Common elements of repositories include the radioactive waste, the containers enclosing the waste, other engineered barriers or seals around the containers, the tunnels housing the containers, and the geologic makeup of the surrounding area.8

A storage space hundreds of metres below the ground needs to withstand the effects of one or more future glaciations, with thick ice sheets resting on top of the rock.910 The presence of ice sheets affects the hydrostatic pressure at repository depth, groundwater flow and chemistry, and the potential for earthquakes. This is being taken into consideration by organizations preparing for long-term waste repositories in Sweden, Finland, Canada and some other countries that have to assess the effects of future glaciations.11

Despite a long-standing agreement among many experts that geological disposal can be safe, technologically feasible and environmentally sound, a large part of the general public in many countries remains skeptical as a result of anti-nuclear campaigns.12 One of the challenges facing the supporters of these efforts is to demonstrate confidently that a repository will contain wastes for so long that any releases that might take place in the future will pose no significant health or environmental risk.

Nuclear reprocessing does not eliminate the need for a repository, but reduces the volume, the long-term radiation hazard, and long-term heat dissipation capacity needed. Reprocessing does not eliminate the political and community challenges to repository siting.13

See also: High-level radioactive waste management

Natural radioactive repositories

Natural uranium ore deposits serve as proof of concept for stability of radioactive elements in geological formations—Cigar Lake Mine for example is a natural deposit of highly concentrated uranium ore located under sandstone and a quartz layer at a depth of 450 m, that is 1 billion years old with no radioactive leaks to the surface.14

The ability of natural geologic barriers to isolate radioactive waste is demonstrated by the natural nuclear fission reactors at Oklo, Gabon. During their long reaction period about 5.4 tonnes of fission products as well as 1.5 tonnes of plutonium together with other transuranic elements were generated in the uranium ore body. This plutonium and the other transuranics remained immobile until the present day, a span of almost 2 billion years.15 This is remarkable as ground water had ready access to the deposits and they were not in a chemically inert form, such as glass.

Research

Deep geologic disposal has been studied for several decades, including laboratory tests, exploratory boreholes, and the construction and operation of underground research laboratories where large-scale in-situ tests are being conducted.16 Major underground test facilities are listed below.

CountryFacility nameLocationGeologyDepthStatus
BelgiumHADES Underground Research FacilityMolplastic clay223 min operation 198217
CanadaAECL Underground Research LaboratoryPinawagranite420 m1990–200618
FinlandOnkaloOlkiluotogranite400 munder construction19
FranceMeuse/Haute Marne Underground Research LaboratoryBureclaystone500 min operation 199920
JapanHoronobe Underground Research LabHoronobesedimentary rock500 munder construction21
JapanMizunami Underground Research LabMizunamigranite1000 munder construction2223
South KoreaKAERI Underground Research TunnelDeajeongranite120 min operation 200624
SwedenÄspö Hard Rock LaboratoryOskarshamngranite450 min operation 199525
SwitzerlandGrimsel Test SiteGrimsel Passgranite450 min operation 198426
SwitzerlandMont Terri Rock LaboratoryMont Terriclaystone300 min operation 199627
United StatesYucca Mountain nuclear waste repositoryNevadatuff, ignimbrite50 m1997–200828

Nuclear repository sites

CountryFacility NameLocationWasteGeologyDepthStatus
ArgentinaSierra del MedioGastregraniteProposed 1976, stopped 199629
BelgiumHades (High-activity disposal experimental site)high-level wasteplastic clay~225 munder discussion
CanadaOPG DGROntario200,000 m3 L&ILWargillaceous limestone680 mlicense application 2011,30 canceled 202031
CanadaNWMO DGROntariospent fuelsiting
Chinaunder discussion
FinlandVLJOlkiluotoL&ILWtonalite60–100 min operation 199232
FinlandLoviisaL&ILWgranite120 min operation 199833
FinlandOnkaloOlkiluotospent fuelgranite400 munder construction34
France

Cigéo (Centre Industriel de Stockage Géologique)

Bure, Meuse

high-level wastemudstone500 mlicense application 202335
GermanySchacht Asse IILower Saxonysalt dome750 mclosed 1995
GermanyMorslebenSaxony-Anhalt40,000 m3 L&ILWsalt dome630 mclosed 1998
GermanyGorlebenLower Saxonyhigh-level wastesalt domeproposed, on hold
GermanySchacht KonradLower Saxony303,000 m3 L&ILWsedimentary rock800 munder construction
JapanVitrified high-level waste36>300 m37under discussion38
South KoreaWolseongGyeongjuL&ILW80 min operation 2015 39
South Koreahigh-level wastesiting 40
SwedenSFRForsmark63,000 m3 L&ILWgranite50 min operation 198841
SwedenForsmarkspent fuelgranite450 mlicense application 201142
Switzerlandhigh-level wasteclaysiting
United Kingdomhigh-level wasteunder discussion43
United StatesWaste Isolation Pilot PlantNew Mexicotransuranic wastesalt bed655 min operation 1999
United StatesYucca Mountain ProjectNevada70,000 ton HLWignimbrite200–300 mproposed, canceled 2010

Status of repository at certain sites

The process of selecting appropriate deep final repositories is under way in several countries, with the first expected to be commissioned some time after 2010.44[needs update]

Australia

There was a proposal in the early 2000s for an international high level waste repository in Australia45 and Russia.46 Since the proposal for a global repository in Australia, which has never produced nuclear power, and has one research reactor, was raised, domestic political objections have been loud and sustained, making such a facility in Australia unlikely.

Canada

Main article: Giant Mine

Giant Mine has been used as a deep repository for storage of highly toxic arsenic waste in the form of powder. As of 2020 there is ongoing research to reprocess the waste into a frozen block form which is more chemically stable and prevents water contamination.47

On Nov 28, 2024, the NWMO selected the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation-Ignace area as the site for Canada's deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel. 4849

Finland

The Onkalo site in Finland based on the KBS-3 technology, is the furthest along the road to becoming operational among repositories worldwide. Posiva started construction of the site in 2004. The Finnish government issued the company a licence for constructing the final disposal facility in November 2015. As of June 2019, continuous delays mean that Posiva expects operations to begin in 2023.[needs update]

Germany

A number of repositories including potash mines in Herfa-Neurode and Zielitz have been used for years for the storage of highly toxic mercury, cyanide and arsenic waste.50 There is little debate in Germany regarding toxic waste, in spite of the fact that unlike nuclear waste, it does not lose toxicity with time.

There is a debate about the search for a final repository for radioactive waste, accompanied by protests, especially in the Gorleben village in the Wendland area, which was seen as ideal for the final repository until 1990 because of its location in a remote, economically depressed corner of West Germany, next to the closed border to the former East Germany. After reunification, the village is now close to the center of Germany, and is now used for temporary storage of nuclear waste.

The pit Asse II is a former salt mine in the mountain range of Asse in Lower Saxony/Germany, that was allegedly used as a research mine since 1965. Between 1967 and 1978, radioactive waste was placed in storage. Research indicated that brine contaminated with radioactive caesium-137, plutonium and strontium was leaking from the mine since 1988 but was not reported until June 2008.51 The repository for radioactive waste Morsleben is a deep geological repository for radioactive waste in the rock salt mine Bartensleben in Morsleben, in Saxony-Anhalt/Germany, that was used from 1972 to 1998. Since 2003, 480,000 m3 (630,000 cu yd) of salt-concrete has been pumped into the pit to temporarily stabilize the upper levels.

Sweden

Approval was granted in January 2022 for the construction of a direct disposal facility using KBS-3 technology, on the site of the Forsmark nuclear power plant.52

United Kingdom

The UK Government, in common with many other countries and supported by scientific advice, has identified permanent deep underground disposal as the most appropriate means of disposing of higher activity radioactive waste.

Radioactive Waste Management (RWM) [1] was established in 2014 to deliver a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) and is a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) [2] which is responsible for clean-up of the UK's historical nuclear sites. In 2022, Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) formed from the merger of RWM with the Low Level Waste Repository in Cumbria.

A GDF will be delivered through a community consent-based process [3], working in close partnership with communities, building trust for the long term and ensuring a GDF supports local interests and priorities.

The policy is emphatic in requiring the consent of the people who would be living alongside a GDF and giving them influence over the pace at which discussions progress.

The first Working Groups were established in Copeland [4] and Allerdale [5] in Cumbria during late 2020 and early 2021. These Working Groups have started the process of obtaining consent for hosting a GDF in their areas. These Working Groups are believed to be a critical step in the process to find a willing community and a suitable, feasible and acceptable site for a GDF. Allerdale withdrew from the process to select a deep waste repository site in 2023. NWS explained this decision in terms of there being insufficient extent of potentially suitable geology in which to undertake a site selection process.

RWM continues to have discussions in a range of places across England with people and organisations who are interested in exploring the benefits of hosting a GDF. More Working Groups are anticipated to form across the country in the next year or two.

Any proposal for a GDF will be evaluated against highly rigorous criteria [6] to ensure all safety and security tests are met.

United States

Main articles: Horizontal drillhole disposal and Deep borehole disposal

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in the United States went into service in 1999 by putting the first cubic metres of transuranic radioactive waste53 in a deep layer of salt near Carlsbad, New Mexico.

In 1978, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) began studying Yucca Mountain, within the secure boundaries of the Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada, to determine whether it would be suitable for a long-term geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. This project faced significant opposition and suffered delays due to litigation by the Agency for Nuclear Projects for the State of Nevada (Nuclear Waste Project Office) and others.54 The Obama administration rejected use of the site in the 2009 United States Federal Budget proposal, which eliminated all funding except that needed to answer inquiries from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), "while the Administration devises a new strategy toward nuclear waste disposal."55

In March 2009, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a Senate hearing the Yucca Mountain site is no longer viewed as an option for storing reactor waste.56

In June 2018, the Trump administration and some members of Congress again began proposing using Yucca Mountain, with senators from Nevada raising opposition.57

In February 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted about a potential change of policy on plans to use Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a repository for nuclear waste.58 Trump's previous budgets have included funding for Yucca Mountain but, according to Nuclear Engineering International, two senior administration officials said that the latest spending blueprint will not include any money for licensing the project.59 On February 7, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette echoed Trump's sentiment and stated that the U.S. administration may investigate other types of [nuclear] storage, such as interim or temporary sites in other parts of the country.60

Though no formal plan had solidified from the federal government, the private sector moved forward with their own plans. Holtec International submitted a license application to the NRC for an autonomous consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) in southeastern New Mexico in March 2017. Similarly, Interim Storage Partners is also planning to build and operate a CISF in Andrews County, Texas.61 Meanwhile, other companies have indicated that they are prepared to bid on an anticipated procurement from the DOE to design a facility for interim storage of nuclear waste.62 The NRC issued a licence for the Andrews County CISF in September 2021. A group including the State of Texas petitioned for a court review of the licence. In August 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the NRC does not have the authority from Congress to license such a temporary storage facility that is not at a nuclear power station or federal site, nullifying the purported license. The other New Mexico CISF is similarly being challenged in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.63

Deep Isolation, a corporation based in Berkeley, California,64 proposed a solution involving horizontal storage of radioactive waste canisters in directional boreholes, using technology developed for oil and gas mining. An 18" borehole can be directed vertically to the depth of several thousand feet in geologically stable formations, and then a horizontal waste disposal section of similar length can be created where waste canisters are stored before the borehole is sealed.65

See also

References

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