Processing, treatment and conditioning Interim storage Disposal Transboundary movements & other transports Research

4.1.1 Belgium: At the end of July 2001, Belgatom completed the civil works of a new building (B280) for the retrieval, treatment, conditioning and final characterization of radwaste containers at the Belgoprocess site. This task, achieved within the original time schedule, will be followed by the erection and test phases of the functional equipment. Commissioning of the whole installation is planned for mid 2003. There are approximately 10,000 radwaste containers in total, (standard steel barrels, special containers, shielded overpacks, …), stored from the Sixties, and which contain high-activity radwaste (solid or liquid), radon contaminated or not, and special wastes (Al, spent resins, Na/Nak, …).

This new facility is part of a global project including, amongst others, the dismantling operations at the Belgoprocess site 2 in Mol - Belgium (former C.E.N. storage site) the HRA (facility used to process and condition historical ILW) and Solarium radwaste storage facilities, for which ONDRAF-NIRAS entrusted Belgatom in March 2000 with an Architect-Engineer mission.

Construction phases of B280

4.1.2 Bulgaria: Operation of a new US$30 million facility at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant for the processing and conditioning low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LLW and ILW) started in February 2001. The facility will process approximately 100 000 cubic meters of radioactive waste in the next few years.

Bulgarian officials also approved the use of a new radioactive waste treament, conditioning and storage complex at Kozloduy in January 2002. The complex comprises a radwaste treatment workshop, a conditioned waste storage facility and a service unit. It has two separate lines for handling liquid and solid wastes. The project to provide a long-term secure nuclear waste storage complex was started in 1992 and the cost of construction work is estimated at over US$4.1 million. It has a 30-year operating lifetime capacity, with the potential to operate for a further 30 years.

4.1.3 Russia: Construction of a nuclear waste treatment plant started in September 2001 at the Smolensk nuclear power plant. A protocol to begin work has been signed by Russian specialists and representatives of the international TACIS Programme.

The first tests of a furnace for vitrifying radioactive waste that remain after fuel reprocessing were reportedly to have been conducted at the Mayak reprocessing facility in August 2001. Ordinary glass was used in place of spent fuel during the trial run, but tests using solutions that imitate radioactive waste planned for later that month. The Mayak facility has been selected to reprocess spent fuel that Russia may import in the future. Commercial operation of the third furnace for radioactive waste vitrification at the Mayak site started November 2001, the Russian atomic energy ministry (Minatom) announced.

4.1.4 Ukraine: In March 2001, NUKEM Nuklear GmbH, Alzenau, was awarded a contract from the Ukrainian company ENERGOATOM for the construction of a waste management facility for the treatment of solid radioactive waste at the Chernobyl NPP. The waste management facility is necessary for the conditioning of radioactive waste generated during the operation of the nuclear power plant as well as during the decommissioning of Units 1 to 3. The project is subdivided into three parts:

• The retrieval of solid radioactive wastes currently stored in the Interim Storage Silos at the Chernobyl site.
  
  
• The sorting, segregating and conditioning of wastes for final disposal from the Interim Storage Silos including wastes generated during the operation of the Units 1, 2 and 3.
  
  
• The storage of conditioned solid radioactive waste and conditioned waste products generated by the liquid radioactive waste treatment plant in an Engineered Near Surface Disposal Facility for low and intermediate level waste.

4.1.5 UK: The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has commissioned a sodium disposal plant at Dounreay. The plant - which was scheduled to start operating in late-summer 2001 - will convert 1500 tonnes of reactor coolant into saltwater by early 2003.

A new Waste Receipt Assay Characterisation and Supercompaction (WRACS) facility to analyse and compact low-level radioactive waste (LLW) at UKAEA's Dounreay site was opened in August 2001. WRACS can process up to 200 drums per week of the 3000 drums of solid LLW produced annually from Dounreay's decommissioning programme.

British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) obtained the licence from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) to commence active commissioning of the third line at its Waste Vitrification Plant (WVP) at Sellafield in December 2001. Active liquor was introduced during January 2002. The start of operations of the 320 million UK pound (US$470 million) line will enable BNFL to meet its commitment to speed up the conversion of liquid high-level waste (HLW) to
borosilicate glass blocks for longer term storage. The NII requires year-on-year reductions in highly active liquid waste down to buffer stocks by 2015, which the company is committed to meeting.

4.1.6 US: In July 2001, BNFL Inc was granted the final two environmental permits required for constructing the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The state of Idaho issued a Clean Air Act Permit and a Hazardous Waste Management Act Permit. The permits will become final after a 30-day waiting period. BNFL expects construction of the facility to be completed by the end of 2002.

4.2.1 Canada: Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) reported the construction of a dry-storage facility at Bruce, to be operational from 2002.

OPG also reported plans to construct a dry storage facility at Darlington, which would be used to storage used fuel from Darlington only. An Environmental Assessment of the proposed facility commenced in February 2001 and is expected to be submitted to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for approval in Spring 2003. Following regulatory approval, OPG expects the facility to be in use by 2007. (see also http://www.opg.com/ops/N_darlington_fuelea.asp)

4.2.2 Germany: RWE reported in October 2000 that the building of an interim storage site for nuclear waste at its Kernkraftwerk Lippe-Ems GmbH (KLE) nuclear plant in Lingen would start in the next few weeks. Permission to build the DM40 million facility was recently obtained from Lingen local authorities. However, a licence from the Federal Office for Protection Against Radiation (BfS) is still required to store nuclear waste at the facility. RWE has applied to BfS for the licence and expects operations to start in 2002.

4.2.3 Japan: Tepco has launched a technical investigation into the proposed siting of a spent fuel interim storage facility in Aomori prefecture. The feasibility study into the facility followed an invitation from the city of Mutsu in Aomori. It is hoped that the operation of the facility will begin in 2010. The facility is said to be necessary because on-site storage at some sites is filling up, and the volume of spent fuel nationwide is already beyond the capacity at the Rokkasho reprocessing plant.

4.3.1 Germany: The Morsleben radwaste disposal facility started undergoing tests in November 2000 following claims that blocks of salt could fall from the ceiling onto waste containers. The work involved closing off a small section of the facility and will not disrupt operational work. A decision has since been taken to accelerate the process of backfilling the mine with salt.

4.3.2 France: ANDRA has started carrying out studies to decide on the type of disposal canisters that will be suitable for the future deep-underground repository.

4.3.3 US: Envirocare of Utah Inc's request to be allowed to take more radioactive Class A low-level waste (LLW) for disposal received final regulatory approval in July 2000. Envirocare can take most types of Class A waste. April 2001, Envirocare decided to no longer pursue legislative approval for the storage of Class B and C low-level wastes. (see also http://www.envirocareutah.com/)

4.4.1 Australia: A shipment carrying spent nuclear fuel from Australia arrived at the port of Cherbourg March 14 2001. This was the fourth shipment of spent fuel from ANSTO since 1996 and the second to the Cogema facility, La Hague.

4.4.2 Germany: March 2001 saw the successful transport of six casks of vitrified HLW waste from France to Germany's Gorleben interim waste storage facility. This was the first in a resumed series of transports of vitrified waste resulting from the reprocessing of Germany's spent fuel at La Hague in France following the lifting of the transportation ban by the two governments.

The shipment of vitrified waste in March 2001 paved the way for the recommencement of rail shipments of German spent nuclear fuel to France. A rail shipment from Philippsburg, Biblis and Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plants arrived at Cogema's Valognes rail terminal near the La Hague reprocessing plant on 11 April 2001.

In the same month, a shipment of German spent fuel arrived at British Nuclear Fuels' (BNFL) Sellafield complex for reprocessing. The transport included five casks of spent fuel from the Neckarwestheim and Biblis reactors.

4.4.3 Japan: A sixth shipment of vitrified high-level waste (HLW) arrived in Rokkasho-mura, Japan February 2001 from Cherbourg, France. 192 containers of vitrified HLW were transported on the 'Pacific Swan', a ship owned by BNFL.

A seventh shipment of vitrified high-level waste (HLW), which left Cherbourg on December 5th, 2001 for Japan via the Panama Canal, arrived at the port of Mutsu-Ogawara on 22nd January 2002. Six casks containing 152 canisters of vitrified waste were transported on the Pacific Sandpiper. This brings the total number of canisters received to 616.

4.4.4 Switzerland: The first batch of vitrified high-level radioactive waste from Cogema's reprocessing plant in La Hague, France, arrived by rail at the Swiss central interim storage facility, Zwilig, on 12 December 2001. The consignment of 28 containers (1 cask) - containing waste from 110 spent fuel elements from the Gosgen nuclear power plant - is the first of at least two shipments of vitrified waste during 2002.

4.5.1 Finland / Sweden: In June 2001, Posiva and SKB, the respective Finnish and Swedish nuclear waste management companies, announced their continued collaboration on research and technology to progress the development of their national spent fuel repositories. Finland and Sweden have advanced plans for spent fuel repositories located in bedrock. The companies will benefit sharing expertise: SKB has progressed in spent fuel disposal canister design and in the testing of repository technology. Meanwhile, Posiva has progressed further on site characterization, having developed advanced equipment for groundwater sampling and measuring water flow. (see also; http://www.posiva.fi, http://www.skb.se)

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