SDA V7N3 / E&S #9
| Country | SNF Policy | Repository Type | Site Selected | Timeframe | Underground Research | Current Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | Foreign Reprocessing | Clay | - | 2015: Detailed studies 2030: Open |
Yes | Ongoing underground research | - |
| Canada | Storage | Crystalline Rock | No | 2025: Open | Yes | Recently completed environmental review | - |
| China | Domestic Reprocessing (small plant being built) | Unknown | NW China or Gobi desert | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | - |
| Czech Republic | Storage | Undetermined | No | Undetermined | No | Conceptual Study for URL | - |
| Finland | Storage | Crystalline Rock | 3 candidates | 2000: Site selected 2020: open |
Yes | - | - |
| France | Reprocessing | Clay or Granite | 1 candidate; searching for a 2nd | 2020: Open | Proposed (+foreign) | Plans to open 2 URLs at candidate sites | Study also ongoing into transmutation and above-ground permanent storage options |
| Germany | Foreign Reprocessing and SNF Storage | Salt Dome | Gorleben | 2005: Site Suitability >2013: Open |
Yes | Continuing with site evaluation of Gorleben? | There is a highly contested interim storage facility at Gorleben |
| India | Domestic Reprocessing | Granite | Candidate sites list finalized | ~2020 | Yes | Final site selection process begun | - |
| Italy | Foreign Reprocessing and SNF Storage | Undetermined | No | Undetermined | No | No indication that active repository research is being undertaken | - |
| Japan | Foreign and Domestic Reprocessing | Clay and crystalline rock | - | 2000: Site selection phase begins | Use of foreign labs | Generic Guidelines established; Lab research program | - |
| Korea | Storage | Undetermined | No | Undetermined | No | Technical studies; assessment methodology and disposal concept being developed | - |
| Russia | Reprocessing; liquid HLW stored in above-ground reservoirs and injected underground | Granite; Permafrost, Salt, Tuff | No | Unknown | Planned | Criteria for site selection established, technical studies ongoing | Has injected HLW into wells |
| Spain | Foreign reprocessing and SNF storage | Granite, salt or clay | No | 2020: open | Use of foreign labs | R&D on both engineered and geologic barriers | - |
| Sweden | Centralized Interim Storage | Crystalline Rock | 5-10 Candidate Sites | >2003: Site selected >2008: open |
Äspö hard rock lab | Candidate site evaluated for feasibility; 2 will be chosen for surface level study; 1 of those will be chosen for detailed investigation | Extended Storage Option |
| Switzerland | Foreign reprocessing and SNF storage | Crystalline rock or clay | No | After 2020 | Yes | Active R&D program | - |
| Taiwan | Storage (may undertake foreign reprocessing) | Unknown | No | 2016: Site Selection 2032: Rep. Open |
Use of foreign labs | - | - |
| UK | Reprocessing | No | No | Undetermined | Use of foreign labs | No active repository research program is evident | - |
| USA | Storage | Volcanic tuff | Yucca Mountain | 1998: Viability Assessment Issued | Yes | On-going effort to open Yucca Mountain. Repeated proposals to open central interim storage site | - |
SOURCES:
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology 1997. Radioactive Waste - Where Next? London: November 1997
Don J. Bradley. Behind the Nuclear Curtain: Radioactive Waste Management in the Former Soviet Union. Columbus: Batelle Press, 1997
Nuclear Energy Agency 1998. NEA Nuclear Waste Bulletin 13: 1998. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency
J.P. Amaya et. al. 1997. International Waste Management Fact Book. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, October 1997. PNNL-11677
Website of Posiva Oy (Finnish nuclear waste disposal company)
Official Nuclear Waste Websites:
US DOE Radioactive Waste Management Pages
Nagra (Switzerland)
SKB (Sweden)
NIREX (UK)
IAEA
Institute for Energy and Environmental ResearchMay, 1999