Nuclear Waste Disposal

STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT OF LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE REGULATORY PROGRAM

admin — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:44:11 GMT

PURPOSE:

To provide the Commission with a description and results of the staff’s strategic assessment of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) low-level radioactive waste (LLW) regulatory program. The results of this strategic assessment include a prioritized listing of ongoing and future staff actions and activities, along with associated schedules and resource estimates. This paper does not address any new commitments.

SUMMARY:

In this paper, the NRC staff provides the results of its strategic assessment of the agency’s LLW regulatory program, along with a description of the process used to perform the assessment. Twenty potential activities that the staff could undertake to improve the LLW regulatory framework were evaluated and prioritized. The staff ranked 7 of these as high priority. The enclosed report provides a detailed discussion of the strategic assessment process and results.

Radioactive Waste - Eurobarometer

admin — Fri, 18 May 2007 13:09:47 GMT

The European Union's energy policy is of primary importance in the Community strategy for sustainable development, supply and security.

At the end of 2000, the European Commission published a Green Paper on the security of supply which emphasised the need for a common strategy and the extension of the scope of Community powers in relation to energy, to give the European Union more control over its destiny in this area1. It sketches out a long-term energy strategy, and also undertakes an analysis of the medium-term contribution of nuclear energy. It is expected that, in the absence of any action, the contribution of nuclear energy will decline in the future. In examining the future contribution of nuclear energy, the debate should consider questions such as climate change, the security of the gas supply and sustainable development. Furthermore, research on the safe management of nuclear waste should be actively pursued.

In 2004, a proposal for a directive stressed the importance of establishing a high level of nuclear safety in the management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste in the Member States in order to protect public health and the environment2.

In view of this, the purpose of this study is to analyse the opinion of European Union citizens on the subject of nuclear energy, and radioactive waste in particular.

Nuclear Waste Disposal & Spent Fuel Transport

admin — Wed, 16 May 2007 16:26:56 GMT

Radioactive waste arises from many sources, including medical and industrial activities, as well as power stations and fuel reprocessing. The waste can be in a gaseous, liquid or solid state, but the most important factor regarding its disposal is the level of radiation emitted by it. This has implications for the temperature of the waste materials; if the level is high, then the waste will generate heat. The other important factors are the half-lives of the isotopes forming the waste and the type of radiation emitted. A highly radioactive material with a half-life of seconds only requires a minimal delay period before it can be safely discharged into the environment whereas many radioactive elements have half-lives of several thousands of years and require isolation for long periods.