General policies, plans & funding Low & intermediate waste treatment Low & intermediate waste disposal Transuranic waste disposal Spent fuel & high level waste interim storage Spent fuel & high level waste disposal Research Transportation Clean up

2.1.1 Czech Republic: In January 2000, the three Czech repositories were transferred to state ownership ahead of the summer deadline that had been stipulated in the new atomic law. The three sites are: the Dukovany surface repository for low-level radioactive waste; the Bratrstvi mine complex; Jachymov near Litomerice, for LLW and ILW. The new atomic law also led to the established of the radioactive waste repository authority (RAWRA).

2.1.2 France: In March, OPECST, the parliamentary commission for the assessment of scientific and technological options, fully endorsed the recommendations from MP Michèle Rivasi's report entitled The consequences of nuclear waste storage facilities for human health and the environment. The report recommends twelve different measures including:

• Increasing research and development in order to reduce radioactive discharges, ahead of the 2020 OSPAR deadline, to levels close to zero for artificial radionuclides and near to background levels for naturally occurring radionuclides.
• Investigating the possibility to grant discharge permits with the ultimate objective of achieving lower discharges.
• Involving the health ministry with any procedure or authorisation process concerning radioactive waste management.

2.1.3 Germany: Waste management issues are included in the federal government's plan to phase out nuclear energy and include the following:

Interim storage: utilities will be building interim storage facilities as soon as possible at, or close to, reactor sites. Utilities expect that it will be some five years before they have interim storage sites available to them and in the meantime they will arrange on-site temporary storage.

Transport: utilities are permitted to transport spent fuel to the centralised storage facilities, Gorleben and Arhaus, until such time that on-site facilities are available. International transports are also permitted until all reprocessing contracts have been met.

Gorleben: exploration works of the salt dome have been suspended for three to ten years during which time further clarification of technical, conceptual and safety issues are made. The federal government affirms its commitment to fully assume legal responsibility for establishing the disposal installations in due time irrespective of the nuclear phase out. Salt, granite, clay and other geological formations will all be considered. Some questions have been raised concerning the research on the Gorleben site, including:

• Overpressure from gas build-up in dense rock salt.
• Public pressure to provide a retrievability option.
• Lack of comparison to other geological formations.
• Additional safety requirements to prevent delayed criticality.

Pilot Conditioning Plant (PKA): the responsible authorities will conclude the approval process; however, the works will be limited to repairing casks.

Konrad mine shaft for LILW disposal: responsible authorities will conclude the approval process.

2.1.4 Italy: In December 1999, the government outlined plans for nuclear decommissioning and the associated waste management programmes. Three main goals were defined:

• All onsite radioactive waste should be treated and conditioned within the next ten years with the view to subsequent transport to a national repository.
• Site selection and construction of a national repository for the disposal of LLW and ILW should be accomplished within ten years. The site should also be suitable for the interim storage of long-lived LLW, ILW and spent fuel, plus residues from former reprocessed fuel.
• Decommissioning of NPPs, with a view to returning the sites to green field status, should be achieved within the next twenty years.

The recently created subsidiary from ENEL (the responsible authority for radioactive waste management in Italy), SOGIN, will be responsible for implementing the plan. Funding (approximately 6000 billion lire (US$2.9 billion) plus 50 billion lire (US$20 million) - per year in management costs) will come partly from the ENEL decommissioning reserve and partly from a special 'nuclear component' of the electricity pricing system.

2.1.5 Slovakia: The government launched a new radioactive waste management programme in March 2000 that proposes the creation of a new waste treatment centre and national repository. Construction of the Bohunice waste treatment and conditioning centre started in 1993. It will process wastes from the decommissioning of A-1 Bohunice NPP, operational wastes from two of the four Bohunice VVERs, and institutional wastes. The redesigned Mochovce national repository could also provide new disposal facilities subject to a peer review of the IAEA under the Waste Management Assessment and Technical Review Programme (WATRP).

2.1.6 Spain and Slovenia: ENRESA, the Spanish national waste agency is assisting the Slovenian waste agency, RAO, with the development and management of a LILW repository in Slovenia. ENRESA manage El Cabril, which receives institutional waste from the medical industry as well as the nuclear power sector.

2.1.7 Spain: A new waste plan, approved by the government at the end of July 1999, delays any decisions about long-term high-level waste management until at least 2010. The plan, proposed by state-owned radwaste company ENRESA, leaves all options open for the future management of spent fuel from Spanish nuclear power plants. A further 10 years will be spent on research and development before a decision is made.

2.1.8 Switzerland: Early in March 2000, a draft revision of the Atomic Law (Kernenergiegesetz) was submitted for comment to the stakeholder groups: the public, political parties, industry and anti-nuclear groups. The main purpose for the review was to clarify the institutional role of the federal and cantonal governments in the licensing of repositories for radioactive waste. The federal government used the revised law to instigate discussion on a number of fundamental issues concerning the future of nuclear power in Switzerland. It invited comment on a number of areas including:

• Should nuclear power remain an option for future electricity production in Switzerland?
• Should the operating life of existing power plants in Switzerland be time limited?
• Should the recently developed concept for the geological disposal of radioactive waste (after an extended period of observation) be pursued?
• Should the reprocessing of Swiss spent fuel continue?
• Should the law provide full public consultation prior to the initiation of a radioactive waste disposal programme?

The consultation period ended in mid-June 2000 and it is expected that the revised law will become effective during 2001.

A new administrative order requires utilities to set aside funds over the next five years to cover the future costs of management and disposal of the spent fuel from decommissioned power plants. Such funds already exist, dating back to the start-up time of the power plants, but up to now the funds may have been used for other projects. Now they are segregated and controlled by the central government on a plant-specific basis.

2.1.9 UK: In response to the 1999 House of Lords select committee report on the management of nuclear waste, UK environment Minister, Michael Meacher, announced widespread government consultation on the issue. The Minister stressed the government's commitment to a fully comprehensive policy for managing long-lived nuclear waste. The intention is for this policy to be developed in a transparent and open-minded way to ensure maximum public acceptance before decisions are made whether to continue storage above ground, or to initiate further research into deep underground disposal. The next stage of the proceedings will include the publication of a detailed and wide-ranging consultation paper discussing the processes involved for the implementation of the various radioactive waste management options. The latest radioactive waste inventory for the UK reports a 17% decrease in the forecast of total conditioned HLW and a 26% decrease in the forecast for ILW.

2.1.10 USA: American utilities remain dissatisfied with the US Senate dealing of the nuclear waste bill, S-1287. The veto on the bill was sustained following a vote in the Senate on 2 May 2000 where ninety-nine Senators voted at 64-35. The bill requires a two-thirds majority for it to be passed.

The waste bill will permit the final disposal of spent fuel to Nevada's Yucca Mountain. The public hearing on the Yucca Mountain environmental impact assessment ended on 28 February. It is expected that the Secretary of Energy will decided whether to recommend Yucca Mountain to the President as the repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste in 2001.

2.2.1 Canada: Construction approval was given by AECB for the modular aboveground storage (MAGS), at Chalk River Laboratories, on 19 November 1999 and the C$3 million (US$1.3 million) project started on 5 January 2000. The system will include a super-compactor to reduce the total volume of waste by a factor of twenty. Low-level wastes will be sorted, compacted, and packaged in metal containers (either conventional steel drums or purpose built steel boxes approximately 1x1x2 m). A maximum of ten storage buildings will be built each with a capacity to store up to two years of low-level waste generated both locally and elsewhere in Canada.

2.2.2 Switzerland: The final operating license for ZWILAG LLW incineration and conditioning unit was granted in March 2000.

2.2.3 UK: The Environment Agency (EA) has given permission for LLW from the former Brent Spar offshore oil installation to be brought to Britain from Norway for treatment. The Agency has authorised the import of three drums of low specific activity (LSA) waste from the decommissioned oil platform, which will be evaluated by AEA Technology. The company then intends to apply for permission to process the remaining several hundred drums of sludge, scale and rock after the evaluation process. The waste is natural radioactive material resulting from drilling and production, and will be used to test processing methods at AEA's Winfrith plant in Dorset, UK. The waste will then be sent to BNFL's Drigg disposal site for long-term disposal.

2.2.4 USA: In March, the US Energy Secretary, Richardson, announced that the US administration had dropped a project for the construction of an incineration plant in Wyoming, following environmental opposition. BNFL was awarded the contract to compact and incinerate wastes from Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL).

ATG Inc. has received the authorisation to construct and operate the country's first commercial mixed waste facility at its Richland centre (Washington). The permit allows ATG to treat commercial and government-generated LLW that also contain hazardous chemical contamination.

2.3.1 Switzerland: ZWILAG, the national intermediate storage facility at Würenlingen, opened for operation on 1 January 2000 having obtained all necessary operating licences, including a licence for the operation of its high temperature plasma furnace. The furnace will convert many sources of low and intermediate level waste into a stable glass-like material suited for permanent disposal.

ZWILAG is owned by the nuclear utilities in Switzerland who have recently decided to add to the existing storage facilities (currently for spent fuel and high-level and medium-level waste) a storage hall for low-level waste. With this addition, the ZWILAG facility, together with the smaller, intermediate storage facility ZWIBEZ at the Beznau reactor site, will be able to store all radioactive waste from the five operating reactors in Switzerland for up to fifty years operation plus wastes arising from decommissioning.

2.4.1 USA: The final Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) permit for the disposal of low-level transuranic and hazardous chemical wastes at the US Department of Energy Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) was granted from the state of New Mexico in October 1999.

2.5.1 Canada: On 20 January 2000, the Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB) of Canada approved the construction proposal for a used fuel dry storage facility at the Bruce Nuclear Power development, submitted by Ontario Power Generation (OPG). The current approval is for the construction phase. The future operation of the facility will require additional application to AECB.

2.5.2 Czech Republic: The central interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at Dukovany plant proceeded as planned in December 1999. The regulatory body licensed the use of the new Skoda 440/84 cask and permitted CEZ, the operator, to expand storage capacity.

2.5.3 Germany: During December 1999, nine new applications for on-site interim storage at nuclear power plants were submitted to the government. The applications came from Brokdorf, Unterweser, Stade, Grohnde, Krümmel, Brunsbüttel, Neckarwestheim, Phillippsburg and Biblis NPPs. Further applications are expected, while spent fuel transport restrictions remain in place.

2.5.4 Russia: In early 2000, the new authorities announced that they are considering the development of a spent fuel storage facility on the Kola Peninsula to provide safe storage of 60 000 spent fuel elements from nuclear submarines, currently stored in the Murmansk region. SKB, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, welcomed this decision.

2.5.5 Spain: Preparation for a spent fuel storage facility at the Trillo reactor site restarted in August 1999 following a government order. Progress has been delayed due to opposition from the local community, who fear that the facility would become a central storage facility for Spain's spent fuel.

2.5.6 USA: In December 1999, the US NRC accepted the proposal from Private Fuel Storage (PFS), a consortium of eight utilities, to establish a spent fuel storage facility on Goshute tribal land, Utah. The go-ahead came following PFS's submission of their safety evaluation report for the project, which they consider necessary until the US DOE can allow the fuel to be moved to a permanent burial ground such as the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada. The draft environmental impact statement (EIS) met the approval of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Surface Transportation Board. The final EIS is scheduled for completion in February 2001.

2.6.1 Germany: an international team of experts declared that there was no reason that the Gorleben mine cannot meet all necessary criteria for the safe, long-term storage of spent fuel. The team was commissioned in December 1999 by the nuclear utilities to assess the results from the Gorleben salt dome site investigations. The preliminary responses from the team of experts are in contradiction to the position of the environment minister, Mr Trittin, who called for a moratorium on the works at Gorleben on 22 February 2000, and established a commission to define permanent disposal criteria. The team of experts will submit their final report by the end of 2000.

2.6.2 Japan: On 16 May, a plenary session of the Lower House passed a bill that provides a framework for the final disposal of high-level radioactive waste and sent it to the Upper House. The Upper House Committee on Economy and Industry took up the bill on 17 May. The bill requires consultation with prefecture governors and heads of local municipalities when preliminary studies of the proposed sites are made. In addition, the new law calls for the creation of an organisation responsible for HLW management.

2.7.1 Belgium: ONDRAS/NIRAS is preparing the second safety assessment and feasibility interim report for the disposal of HLW in clay research programme. The completed report will be issued in late 2000. The federal authority then intends to submit the report to an international peer review committee organised by OECD/NEA.

2.7.2 Finland: Both the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry (KTM) and the Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) approved the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the final disposal of spent fuel from Loviisa and Olkiluoto at Eurojoki on the Olkiluoto site. The Eurojoki municipality supports the application and the next stage requires a decision in principle from the Finnish Council of State, which is necessary prior to the development of an underground laboratory. The government is expected to confirm that Eurojoki will get the spent fuel repository site and construction should commence around 2010, with authorisation for commissioning around 2020.

2.7.3 France: In May 2000, the government decided to postpone the site selection for a suitable granite research site for a spent fuel repository.

2.8.1 Germany: Authorisations for domestic transport to Ahaus were issued in February 2000 to Neckarwestheim NPP and Phillippsburg NPP where spent fuel casks are already loaded. The transport of these casks is not expected before October 2000. Transporting nuclear materials outside national boundaries remains prohibited.

2.8.2 Switzerland: In summer, 1998, following the French surface contamination incident of a spent fuel consignment from the EDF's Bugey power plant, the Swiss licensing authority banned the transports of spent fuel. The ban was lifted in the summer 1999 and since then ten shipments of spent fuel to the La Hague reprocessing facility have occurred.

2.9.1 Norway: Towards the end of 1999, the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority commissioned the Institute for Energy Technology to submit a plan for the removal of contaminated sediments from the Nitelva River. The radioactive discharges originate from the Institute of Energy Technology's Kjeller facility. The bulk of the contamination derives from a reprocessing facility that operated at Kjeller in the 1950's and 1960's. The plan should include provisions for the transfer of the waste to the Himdalen LLW/ILW disposal site before 2001.

2.9.2 UK: The UK Environment Agency (EA) has announced that it will introduce revised limits for five main radionuclides that are discharged from BNFL's Sellafield site. The Agency says the limits will result in a 'significant' reduction in the overall permitted discharge levels for tritium, carbon-14, technetium-99, ruthenium-106 and iodine-129. BNFL says the announcement followed three years of review and consultation by the agency and other government departments. BNFL will work within the new limits, but they will place 'restrictions' on its operational flexibility and could affect ongoing programmes, including the cleaning up of historic wastes. The review of discharges is an important element in the UK's efforts to achieve the objectives of the OSPAR Strategy with Regard to Radioactive Wastes.

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