Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal

Joint IAEA/ICTP School of Nuclear Energy Management
8-26 November 2010, Trieste, Italy
Radioactive Waste Management
and Disposal
Monika Kinker
(M.Kinker@iaea.org)
Waste and Environmental Safety Section
Division of Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety
Department of Nuclear Safety and Security
IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency

Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel
Management Unit
• Support to Member States in establishing proper
safety framework (regime) for management of
spent fuel and radioactive waste:
• Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel and
Radioactive Waste Management
• Development of Safety Standards
• Provisions for use and application of Safety Standards
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• IAEA Statute:
• Develop safety
standards
• Provisions for
their application
and guidance on
good practices
IAEA Activities
Nuclear safety
Radiation Safety
Waste Safety
Transport Safety
Peer reviews
Technical cooperation
Research and
development
Training
Exchange of
information (networks)
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International Safety Standards
• IAEA develops safety standards related to
management of RAW
• Management of all types of radioactive waste
• Release of sites and materials from regulatory control
• Safety assessment
• Management of contaminated scrap metal
• Safety Standards reflect international consensus
on the safety level needed to protect people and
the environment from the ionizing radiation
• IAEA Safety Standards are revised on regular
basis to incorporate new knowledge, experiences
and good practices
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Hierarchy of Safety Standards…evolving
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2005 2006
Small
Generators
Storage
Safety Standards: Predisposal
BSS
DS 379
Storage of
SNF
DS 371
2009
FCFs HLW
DS 447
2010
L/ILW
Reactors
DS 448
2010
Classification
2008
Management
System
Safety Case &
Safety
Assessment
DS 284
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Near Surface
Disposal
DS 356
Borehole
Disposal
SSG1
Safety Standards: Disposal
Geological
Disposal
DS 334
Waste
Disposal
DS 354
Management
Systems
Disposal
GS-G-3.4
Monitoring and
Surveillance
DS 357
Classification
Safety Case &
Assessment
Disposal
DS 355
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Safety Standards: Spent Fuel
BSS
DS 379
Storage of
Spent Fuel
DS 371
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(2006)
Borehole
Disposal
SSG-1
Safety Standards: DSRS
(2005) (2006)
Classification
GSG-1
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Safety Standards: Safety Assessment
Safety Case/
Assessment
Predisposal
DS 284
Safety Case/
Assessment
Disposal
DS 355
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Fundamental Safety Principles
• Policy document of the IAEA Safety Standards Series:
States the basic objectives, concepts and principles involved in
ensuring protection and safety
• Principle 1: Responsibility for safety
• Principle 2: Role of government
• Principle 3: Leadership and management for safety
• Principle 4: Justification of facilities and activities
• Principle 5: Optimization of protection
• Principle 6: Limitation of risks to individuals
• Principle 7: Protection of present and future
generations
• Principle 8: Prevention of accidents
• Principle 9: Emergency preparedness & response
• Principle 10: Protective actions to reduce existing or
unregulated radiation risks
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Safety Fundamentals: Principle 7
“The objective of radioactive waste
management is to deal with radioactive
waste in a manner that protects human
health and the environment now and in the
future without imposing undue burdens on
future generations.”
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Protection of human health
• Human health and the environment must be
protected now and in the future, without undue
burden to the future generations
• Protection of workers, public and the environment
• Protection beyond national borders
• Justification, optimization, limitation of doses
• Potential exposures
• Safety culture
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Radioactive waste is a liability
Radioactive material for which no further use is foreseen,
and with characteristics that make it unsuitable for
authorized discharge, authorized use or clearance from
regulatory control, shall be processed as radioactive waste.
Radioactive waste is radioactive material that has no further economic
value.
Management of radioactive waste is driven by:
• Safety
• Cost
• Stakeholder Support
Radioactive waste management is today often conducted as a business
(i.e., private sector enterprises).
Regulatory control is essential because the material will always be
hazardous ... temptation to reduce cost and possibly safety.
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Management Options for radioactive
materials
• After utilization, radioactive material is fated
to:
• Removal from regulatory control by
clearance or discharge
(includes decay storage).
• Release to the environment
by authorized discharge.
• Management as solid
radioactive waste.
Clearance
Waste
Pre-Treatment
Treatment
Conditioning
Disposal
Reuse/recycle
(radioactive
material)
Characterization
Storage
Transport
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Management Options for Disused Sealed
Radioactive Sources: RS-G-1.10
**IMPORTANT**
*
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*
*
*
*
*
*

Solid radioactive waste
Forms of solid radioactive waste include:
• Lightly contaminated consumables
• Ion exchange resins.
• Contaminated concrete from decommissioning.
• Evaporator concentrates
• Vitrified HLW
Waste Categorization: refer to an intermediate
step such as processing step, or waste stream.
Waste Classification: waste is classified
according to the disposal endpoint.
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Waste Classification vs WAC
Waste classification systems
• provide a national system of classification for
managing all types of radioactive waste
• Do not specify criteria for individual facilities
WAC
• Specific to a particular storage or disposal facility
• Provide detailed specifications for waste to meet
before it can be accepted at a particular storage or
disposal facility.
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Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC)
• Radioactive waste destined for disposal
shall be processed to meet the acceptance
criteria for disposal established with the
approval of the regulatory body.
• Define the radiological, mechanical, physical,
chemical and biological properties of the waste
and of any package.
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IAEA Waste Classification
Justification
Why a classification system is needed:
• Permits appropriate decisions to be made at each
step of lifecycle management of wastes.
• Provides a systematic foundation for waste
segregation programmes.
• Efficient management system for operators
(otherwise decisions are ad hoc or made on case
by case basis).
• Provides essential input for national WM policy &
strategy.
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IAEA Waste Classification
Methods
Methods of RAW classification:
• Classification of RAW may be developed
from different bases, such as operational or
long term safety,...;
• The approach described in GSG-1 is based
mainly on the long term safety aspects of
waste disposal;
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IAEA Waste Classification Safety Guide
GSG-1
Quantitative criteria which may be used to determine a
radioactive waste classification scheme include
ALL of the following:
•Activity concentration
•Radionuclide half-lives
•Decay Heat
•Dose or dose rate
**IMPORTANT**
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Use of GSG-1 Classification Scheme:
Disposal of RAW
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Use of GSG-1 classification scheme:
Disposal of disused sealed radioactive sources
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Radioactive waste acceptance criteria and
Safety Case/Safety Assessment
GSR Part 5
• Waste packages and
unpackaged waste accepted for
processing, storage and/or
disposal shall conform to criteria
consistent with the approved
safety case
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What is a Safety Case?
• The collection of arguments and evidence, including
the outcome of safety assessment, in support of the
safety of a facility or activity
• The basis for the safety considerations in respect of
siting and locating facilities, construction, operation
and decommissioning of the facility, including the
justification for changes
• The basis for interaction and dialogue between the
operating organization and the regulatory body
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GSR 5: Purpose of the Safety Case
• Demonstrate that all planned activities can be
carried out in a safe manner
• Provide guidance for the design, engineering and
planning of operations to ensure safety
• Provide input to regulatory process, including
evidence of compliance and arguments for
confidence building
**IMPORTANT**
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Safety Requirements for SC and SA
The safety case (SC) shall (GSR Part 5):
• Include a description of how all the safety aspects of the
site, the design, operation, shutdown and
decommissioning of the facility, and the managerial
controls satisfy the regulatory requirements
• Demonstrate the level of protection provided and shall
provide assurance to the regulatory body that safety
requirements will be met
• Include arguments justifying the approaches taken in the
safety case on the basis of information that is traceable
• Document the arguments at a level of detail and to a
quality sufficient to demonstrate safety
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Safety Requirements for SC and SA
• Operators shall (GSR, Part 5):
• Be responsible for the safety of facilities or activities -
siting, design, construction, etc.) in compliance with legal
and regulatory requirements
• Carry out SA and shall develop a SC
• The SC and its supporting SA shall be reviewed and
updated
• Carry out periodic safety reviews and shall implement
any safety upgrades required by the regulatory body
following this review (SC, activities, etc.)
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Safety Requirements for SA and SC
The regulatory body shall (GSR, Part 5):
• Establish and clarify to the operator the processes used
to evaluate safety and to review applications
• Review and assess the SC and both prior to
authorization and periodically during operation
Graded approach
• The regulatory body will consider a graded approach to
the application of the requirements for the predisposal
management of radioactive waste
• The resources devoted to ensuring safety should be
commensurate with the risks
• The SA shall determine whether adequate defence in
depth has been provided
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GSR Part 4:
Overview of Safety
Assessment
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Progress in Safety Assessment …
Safety Analysis
• Analysis to predict the performance of an overall system and its impact,
where the performance measure is the radiological impact or some other
global measure of the impact on safety.
Safety Assessment
1. Assessment of all aspects of a practice that are relevant to protection and
safety; for an authorized facility, this includes siting, design and operation of
the facility. This will normally include risk assessment and probabilistic SA.
2. Systematic process that is carried out ... to ensure that all the relevant
safety requirements are met by the proposed (or actual) design. Safety
assessment includes, but is not limited to, the formal safety analysis.
Safety Case
• A collection of arguments and evidence in support of the safety of a facility
or activity. This will normally include the findings of a safety assessment
and a statement of confidence in these findings.
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Overview of Safety Case
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Predisposal and Disposal Assessment
• Predisposal safety
assessment focuses
on near-term health
and environmental
effects
• Post-closure disposal
safety assessment
focuses on “potential”
impacts in the future
(drinking water, etc.)
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Differences (Predisposal vs. Disposal)
Predisposal Post-Closure Disposal
Workers and existing residents Postulated future residents
Relatively well defined active
operational conditions and
receptors
Assumed activities of future residents
and forecasted migration through
geologic environment
Engineered system Geologic system and natural
environment
Routinely conducted and
reviewed for a multitude of
facilities
Independent reviews may be used
for complex or unusual facilities
Less common, focused on cases of
radioactive waste disposal or leaving
waste in place
Independent peer reviews often used
to supplement regulatory review
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Regional and International Projects
WENRA
• Waste and Spent Fuel Storage Safety Reference Levels Report
• EU Countries with NPPs
• Harmonisation of the legislation in line with IAEA standards
International Harmonization Projects
• Predisposal, Near Surface Disposal, Deep Geologic Disposal
• Harmonisation of SA methodology and its application
Peer review of WWERs in Ukraine
• 2008-2009
• Waste manegement and decommissioning (Task 3)
Peer review in Netherlands
• Storage of all radioactive waste and spent fuel
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International Projects on
Predisposal and Disposal RWM
INTERCOMPARISON AND HARMONIZATION
• SADRWMS
• SAFRAN
• Illustrative examples to complement SG (DS284)
• PRISM
• Safety case
• Barrier performance
• WAC
• Uncertainty
• GEOSAF
• Regulatory expectations throughout development and operation
• Review process
• Assessment – engineering, site, radiological impact, integration
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SADRWMS Project:
Safety Assessment Driving
Radioactive Waste Management
Solutions
Objective is to examine the application
of safety assessment methodology to
predisposal:
COMPLEMENT the experience gained
with the IAEA’s ISAM, ASAM projects
ENCOMPASS all types of radioactive
waste
INTEGRATE methodology into software
tool (SAFRAN – Safety Assessment
Framework)
DEVELOP Safety Reports on
Safety Assessment Methodology
(including operational waste, small
volumes/DSRS, large amounts/NORM)
Regulatory Review
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PRISM Project:
PRactical Illustration and Use of the
Safety Case Concept in the
Management
of Near-Surface Disposal
• Objective is to share experience and communicate good practice, in
particular concerning:
• The components and expectations of the safety case and their evolution
over the lifecycle of a near-surface radioactive waste disposal facility
• Decision making at different stages in the facility lifecycle, using the
safety case
• Task Groups:
• Understanding the safety case
• Disposal facility design
• Managing waste acceptance
• Managing uncertainty
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Further Information
• Published IAEA standards and supporting reports:
http://wwwpub.iaea.org/mtcd/publications/seriesMain.asp
• Draft Safety Standards:
http://www-ns.iaea.org/standards/default.htm
• IAEA Safety Related Projects:
http://www-ns.iaea.org/home/rtws.asp
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Thank you!
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