Glass offers improved means of storing UK’s nuclear waste

http://phys.org/news/2012-08-glass-uk-nuclear.html

August 22, 2012

“….ILW makes up more than three quarters of the volume of material destined for geological disposal in the UK. (1) Currently the UK’s preferred method is to encapsulate ILW in specially formulated cement. The waste is mixed with cement and sealed in steel drums, in preparation for disposal deep underground. Two studies, published in the latest issues of The Journal of Nuclear Materials and European Journal of Glass Science and Technology A show that turning this kind of waste into glass, a process called vitrification, could be a better method for its long-term storage, transport and eventual disposal. HLW is already processed using this technology which reduces both the reactivity and the volume of the waste produced. Until now, this method has not been considered suitable for ILW because the technology was not developed to handle large quantities of waste composed from a variety of different materials. The research programme, funded by the UK’s NDA and led by Professor Neil Hyatt in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, at the University of Sheffield, tested simulated radioactive waste materials – those with the same chemical and physical makeup, but with non-radioactive isotopes – to produce glass and assess its suitability for storing lower grades of nuclear waste….”

‘Sellafield is where we house the toxic legacy of our failed nuclear industry’

Jan 2011

“…Industry experts say the government must deal with legacy waste before committing to new nuclear in the UK.

The clean-up of nuclear legacy waste at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant – a site historically plagued with mismanagement and technical difficulties – is running behind schedule, according to the 2009-10 annual report from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which was quietly released in December….”

“…The safe removal and treatment of legacy waste has failed to hit the targetsdue to “factors including deteriorating building structures, uncertain material inventories and difficult working conditions,” the report says. Theconsolidation of “legacy sludges” in a storage pond are running behind, and the report gives no explanation for the delay….”

“….”Sellafield is a national disgrace. Sellafield is where we house the toxic legacy of our failed nuclear industry,” said Paul Dorfman from the University of Warwick, who has worked extensively on radiation and nuclear wasteissues with the government and industry….”

“….Prof Gordon Mackerron, the director of the science and technology policy research unit at the University of Sussex and who chaired the original Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, agrees that the consequences of creating more nuclear waste have not been properly addressed and debated….”

“The government has proposed a requirement that they store nuclear waste on site for a very long period, and why that’s politically important is that spent fuel has been moved off to Sellafield as soon as it was feasible to do so in the past.”