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A review of radioactive waste management

Conference Paper · February 2015

DOI: 10.1109/ICTSD.2015.7095849

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 International Conference on Technologies for Sustainable Development (ICTSD-2015), Feb. 04 – 06, 2015, Mumbai, India

A Review of Radioactive Waste Management

Nikunj Khelurkar*, Sunay Shah*, Dr. Hansa Jeswani**
**Corresponding Author, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Department, Sardar Patel College of Engineering
*Undergraduate Students, Sardar Patel college of Engineering. Bhavan's Campus, Munshi Nagar, Andheri (West),
Mumbai-58
[email protected]

Abstract— Radioactive waste is the waste that is left out after specific activities, such as Pu-238 or Po. It also contains beta
the use of radioactive materials in nuclear reactors or during the or gamma emitting tritium and americium but in very small
production of nuclear weapons. Since, exploitation of radioactive amount.
materials was done on a large scale in the past few decades which Medical wastes generally contain beta particle and gamma ray
resulted in production of tremendous amount of radioactive emitters. Y-90 for treating lymphoma , I-131 for treating
waste, radioactive waste management is a necessary step to deal
thyroid cancer, Sr-89 for treating bone cancer, Ir-192 for
with it. If not properly disposed, irradiation from radioactive
waste will cause serious problems to humans and to the brachytherapy, Co-60 for brachytherapy and external
environment. While preparing this paper sincere effort was taken radiotherapy , Cs-137 for brachytherapy, external radiotherapy
to give a succinct account of: (1) radioactive waste generation in are few isotopes used for medication.
different parts of the world. (2) Classification. (3) Processing. (4) Naturally-Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) which
Storage & (5) Treatment of radioactive waste. potentially includes all radioactive elements found in the
environment. However, the term is used more specifically for
Keywords—Radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel, HLW, LLW all naturally occurring radioactive materials where human
activities have increased the potential for exposure compared
I. INTRODUCTION with the unaltered situation. Long-lived radioactive elements
Radioactive wastes entail radioactive materials which are such as uranium, thorium and potassium and any of their
usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other decay products, such as radium and radon are examples of
applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, used in NORM. These elements have always been present in the
fields such as research and medicine. Radioactive waste is Earth's crust and atmosphere, and are concentrated in some
deleterious to most forms of life as well as the environment, places, such as uranium ore bodies which may be mined. The
and is regulated by government agencies in order to protect coal industry, oil and gas industry, metal mining and smelting,
human health and the environment. mineral sands, fertilizers industry, Building industry are few
industries generally contain NORM.
II. GENERATION OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE As of May 2014, there are 437 nuclear reactors operating for
Radioactive waste is generated from a number of sources like electricity generation and more 70 new nuclear plants are
under construction.
nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear weapons reprocessing, medical
wastes, industrial wastes, as well as naturally occurring Over the past four decades, the entire industry has produced
radioactive materials (NORM). Amongst all these nuclear fuel 71,780 metric tons of used nuclear fuel. High-level radioactive
cycle and nuclear weapons produce majority of waste. waste is the byproduct of recycling used nuclear fuel, which in
In nuclear fuel cycle radioactive waste is generated in front its final form will be disposed of in a permanent disposal
end as well as at back end of the cycle. Waste from the front facility. Where spent nuclear fuel is about 95 percent uranium.
end of the nuclear fuel cycle is usually alpha-emitting waste About 1 percent are other heavy elements such as curium,
from the extraction of uranium. It often contains radium and americium and plutonium-239, best known as fuel for nuclear
its decay products where the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle weapons. Each has an extremely long half-life – some take
mostly contains spent fuel rods, contains fission products that hundreds of thousands of years to lose all of their radioactive
emit beta and gamma radiation, and actinides that emit alpha potency. [1]
particles, such as uranium-234, neptunium-237, plutonium- A typical nuclear power plant in a year generates 20 metric
238 and americium-241, and even sometimes some neutron tons of used nuclear fuel. The U.S. has 71,862 tons of the
emitters such as californium (Cf). waste but the nation has no place to permanently store the
Waste from nuclear weapons reprocessing likely to contain material, which stays dangerous for tens of thousands of years.
alpha-emitting actinides such as Pu-239 which is a fissile Illinois has 9,301 tons of spent nuclear fuel at its power plants,
material used in bombs, plus some material with much higher the most of any state in the country, according to industry
figures. It is followed by Pennsylvania with 6,446 tons; 4,290

978-1-4799-8187-8/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE

 International Conference on Technologies for Sustainable Development (ICTSD-2015), Feb. 04 – 06, 2015, Mumbai, India

in South Carolina and approximately 3,780 tons each for New F. High level waste (HLW).
York and North Carolina.
A. Exempt waste (EW)
Japan on the other hand produces 20,000 tons of spent nuclear
fuel by its nuclear power program. The quantity of fission Exempt waste contains radioactive materials at a level which
product i.e. spent nuclear fuel produced each year at a full- is not considered harmful to people or the surrounding
sized commercial nuclear power plants is approximately environment. It consists of small concentrations of radio
50,000 times the fission products of the Hiroshima bomb are nuclides that it does not require provisions for protection from
created by Japanese nuclear power plants each year. Most of radiation. It consist material such as concrete, plaster, bricks,
this waste is being temporarily stored at nuclear power plant metals produced during operations on nuclear power sites.
sites and must remain segregated from the natural Such materials are not harmful and hence do not require
environment. [1] disposal facility for it.
Australia produces about 45 cubic meters of radioactive B. Very short lived waste (VSLW)
wastes arising from these uses and from the manufacture of
the isotopes – about 40 m³ low-level wastes (LLW) and 5 m³ Very short lived waste (VSLW) has radio nuclides of very
intermediate-level wastes (ILW). By comparison, Britain and short half-life. This type of waste is harmful for short period
France each produce annually around 25,000 m of low level of time as it undergoes radioactive decay in short period of
waste. time. Such waste is stored until the activity falls to the level of
exempt waste where it is not harmful to an environment.
Transuranic waste began accumulating in the 1940s with the Radioactive waste from industrial and medical applications
beginning of the United State’s nuclear defense program. It is which usually has short half-lives is examples of very short
found that bedded salt which is free of fresh flowing water, lived waste.
easily mined, impermeable and geologically stable is an ideal
medium for permanently isolating radioactive wastes from the C. Very low level waste (VLLW)
environment.
The waste which arises from the operation and
Government scientists searched for an appropriate site for decommissioning of nuclear facilities with levels of activity
radioactive waste disposal and tested a remote desert area of concentration in the zone near or slightly above the levels
southeastern New Mexico where eventually radioactive waste specified for the clearance of waste material from regulatory
was commissioned to be disposed. The site is named as Waste control is called as VLLW. Waste with such a limited hazard,
Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). In 1998, the U.S. Environmental which above or close to the levels for exempt waste, is termed
Protection Agency (EPA) certified WIPP for safe, long-term very low level waste. Safety from radiations of such waste is
disposal of TRU wastes and it became operational in 1999. achieved by its safe disposal in engineered surface landfill
III. TYPES OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE type facilities.

There are five general types of radioactive waste according D. Low level waste (LLW)
to The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which are as Low level waste (LLW) is generated from hospitals and
follows: industry, as well as the nuclear fuel cycle which mainly
1. Low-level waste (LLW)-contaminated industrial waste. comprises of paper, rags, tools, clothing, filters, reactor water
2. Transuranic waste (TRUW) from the production of nuclear treatment residues, medical tubes, injection needles, syringes,
weapons. etc. It contains mostly short-lived radioactive material in very
3. Uranium mill tailings from the mining and milling of small amount. It does not require shielding during handling
uranium ore. and transport and is suitable for shallow land burial. To reduce
4. Spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from reactors and High-level its volume, it is often compacted or incinerated before
waste (HLW) Spent reactor fuel and other highly radioactive disposal. Low level waste can be deposited near surface level
wastes generated at reprocessing plants. and does not require shielding during handling and transport.
5. Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) It ranges from radioactive waste with an activity content level
just above that for VLLW to radioactive waste with a level of
IV. CLASSIFICATION OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE activity concentration such that shielding is necessary for
Classification of radioactive waste differs from country to periods up to several hundred years. Low level wastes are
country. However, The INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC disposed at varying depths from the surface down to 30 m.
ENERGY AGENCY (IAEA) [3], which publishes the
E. Intermediate level waste (ILW)
Radioactive Waste Safety Standards (RADWASS), has
classified the radioactive waste into six categories which are Intermediate level waste is defined as waste containing long
as follows: lived radio nuclides in quantities that need more isolation from
A. Exempt waste (EW). the environment and generally require shielding. For example,
B. Very short lived waste (VSLW). the reactor's metal cladding, resins, chemical sludge is
C. Very low level waste (VLLW) classified as intermediate-level waste. Disposal of ILW is
D. Low level waste (LLW). carried out at a depth ranging from a few tens to few
E. Intermediate level waste (ILW). hundred’s of meter. It may be solidified in concrete or bitumen
for safe disposal. Intermediate-level waste consist 7% of the
 International Conference on Technologies for Sustainable Development (ICTSD-2015), Feb. 04 – 06, 2015, Mumbai, India

volume, and 4% of the radioactivity, of the world's radioactive

waste.
F. High level waste (HLW)
High-level waste, such as that produced from reprocessing of
spent nuclear fuel, accounts for just 3% of the volume, but
95% of the radioactivity, of the world's radioactive waste.
High-level waste (HLW) is generated from the uranium fuel
and transuranic elements present in the nuclear reactor core.
These materials are highly radioactive and have high
temperature requiring shielding as well as cooling. HLW is
mainly present in spent fuel and Separated waste from
reprocessing the used fuel. It contains large concentrations of
both short and long lived radio nuclides. Every year 12000
metric tons of new HLW is generated worldwide which can
have innumerable harmful effects on an environment and
hence, disposing it safely is of utmost importance. Recycling
spent nuclear fuel is one of the ways available but as separated
waste itself contains HLW, it is not a total solution. And thus,
Fig 2: Block diagram of radioactive waste handling
process of burying HLW deep inside geologically is the safest system. Source: [6]
way to dispose this type.
Very short-lived radioactive wastes are disposed of by storing
them in buildings until they are nonradioactive. HLW from
nuclear fuel cycle require storage of thousand years, whereas
ILW and LLW need hundred year or less for becoming non
radioactive. [11]
Since solids, liquids, and gases have different characteristics,
each must be processed differently. The waste must also be
processed in such a manner as to minimize the risk of
exposure to the public. The above block diagram shows the
layout of a simple handling system for radioactive waste.
Liquids are processed to remove the radioactive impurities.
These processes include [6]:
1. Filtering.
2. Routing through demineralizers,
3. Boiling off the water leading to evaporation which leaves
solid particles which are further treated as solid radioactive
wastes.
4. Storing the liquid for a specific time thereby allowing
Decay in storage (DIS).
After processing, the water has to be sampled. If samples
Fig 1: Disposal of Radioactive waste based on amount of indicate the water meets the required standards, water can be
radioactivity. Source: Japan atomic energy agency. [2] placed in the storage tanks for use in the plant or is safe to be
released to the environment. If the sample does not satisfy the
required standards, it will be sent for reprocessing. Materials
V. PROCESSING OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE remaining after evaporation will be mixed with some other
material to form a solid a composite material such as ducrete.
The basis of radioactive waste management is not difficult.
After mixing with a hardener, the material is processed as
Although, radioactive materials become less radioactive over a
given time, the best way to dispose radioactive waste is to solid radioactive waste.
store them till they lose their radioactivity. Different In the case of Gaseous wastes, they are filtered, compressed to
radioactive materials have different half-lives, implying take up less space, and are allowed to decay for some time
different storage times. period. After the required time has elapsed, a sampling test
For example, cobalt-60, a radioactive isotope having a half will be done for the gases. If the required standards are
life of 5 years has been used widely in medical field for cancer fulfilled, the gases will be released to the atmosphere, or
treatment. Thus, 2 pounds of radioactive cobalt-60 five years sometimes the gases will be reused in specific areas of the
later would decay to a one pound. Every five years the plant.
quantity decreases to half its original. Thus, after 10 half-lives
have elapsed, the material becomes non radioactive.
 International Conference on Technologies for Sustainable Development (ICTSD-2015), Feb. 04 – 06, 2015, Mumbai, India

VI. STORAGE AND DISPOSAL OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE B. Spent fuel pool (SFP)
A. Deep geological repository. Spent fuel pools contain thermally controlled water, since,
B. Spent fuel pool. water serves as a natural and effective barrier to radiation [9].
C. Dry cask storage. As a result, spent fuel generated from nuclear fuel cycle is
D. Ducrete. stored in these pools.
When the spent fuel is removed from the reactor to be
A. Deep geological repository exchanged with new fuel, it is required that it is stored for a
A deep geological repository is provided beneath the ground period of time in the spent fuel pool. The spent fuel must be
level so as to provide storage for the HLW and to ensure kept under water due to the heat being generated by the decay
safety from the radiations which can be deleterious to humans. of the fission products which helps in limiting the radiation
By providing such a facility it is made sure that the storage of levels in the area of the spent fuel pool. In course of time, the
radioactive waste is not affected by the human activity. It heat generated by spent fuel abates. This spent fuel is then
consists of a series of barriers naturally existing or technical transferred to the ground level where it is stored in specially
built. These barriers provide radiation shield. [7] designed casks which provide radiation shielding.
In 2002, USA’s DOE along with the Congress agreed upon the
need for creating a facility for storage of the country’s nuclear
waste and used nuclear fuel. This led to the commission of a
deep geological repository in Yucca Mountain. The Yucca
Mountain was suitable due to various factors such as the
geology of the location, hydrology and its dry climate. The
deep geological repository at the Yucca Mountain allowed for
the retrieval of the waste that was dumped. Since, large
quantities of plutonium and uranium was stored in the
repository, it was important that it allowed for the retrieval of
these wastes in the future and thereby allowing the waste
material to be recycled. [8]
The waste isolation pilot plant (WIPP) in New Mexico,
inculcated the irretrievability of the nuclear waste that was
stored in the salts. This provided complete protection from
radiation to humans, thus, allowing the transuranic waste to be
Fig 4: Schematic diagram of Spent Fuel Pool.
stored for at least 10,000 years. While TRU is different from
Source: [6]
the high level waste that generated from use of nuclear fuel,
the safe disposal of TRU in WIPP not only showed licensing C. Dry Cask Storage
process for a long term nuclear waste storage facility, but also
opened up avenues for data and analysis on the geology, After the HLW is cooled inside the spent fuel pool the
hydrology, chemistry and other scientific disciplines of waste radioactive waste is transferred to dry cask storage at the
disposal in salt. [8] ground level. Casks are fabricated with steel which are either
welded or bolted closed. The fuel rods inside are surrounded
by inert gas. Ideally, the steel cylinder provides leak-tight
containment of the spent fuel. Each cylinder is surrounded by
additional steel, concrete, or other material to provide
radiation shielding to workers and people moving around it.
Some Casks can be used for transportation as well storage
purposes.

Fig 3: model for Deep Geological Repository

Fig 5: Schematic diagram of a Storage Cask.
Source: [7]
Source: [6]
 International Conference on Technologies for Sustainable Development (ICTSD-2015), Feb. 04 – 06, 2015, Mumbai, India

tube placed at high temperature. Due to high temperature of

D. Ducrete tube, water from the waste is evaporated and de-nitrates the
fission products to serve the stability of the glass produced.
Depleted uranium concrete (DUCRETE) was developed at Most high-level wastes arise in a liquid form. Hence they are
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory initially calcined which turns them into a solid form as water
(INEEL) [10] to restrain the neutrons emitted from materials is evaporated from the waste. This product is then
of spent fuel pool and High level wastes, as a neutron shield. It incorporated into molten glass in a stainless container and
contains uranium based aggregate and conventional concrete allowed to cool, giving a solid matrix and are stored. This
ingredients. The compression test results showed that the process is being used in many countries including India,
compressive strength of Ducrete is equivalent to that of the France, Japan, UK and USA and is the most preferred and safe
traditional concrete. process for management of separated HLW generated from
reprocessing. India has a unique distinction of having
The high density of Ducrete allows for liberty in the design of
operating vitrification plant at Tarapur and Trombay.
the cask to be considerably smaller in diameter than concrete
casks. Since the cask cannot transport spent fuel, it can be
transported empty from the manufacturing facility to a storage
site and later to a repository location. This feature facilitates
an economic advantage as current concrete storage systems
cannot be transported, and, have to be built at each location
where they are used.

VII. TREATMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE

A. Radioactive waste Transmutation

In simple words, radioactive waste transmutation is method in
which radioactive isotopes are converted into non radioactive
isotopes. One example of radioactive waste transmutation is
the radioactive isotope of iodine-129 which is a long lived and
requires difficult disposal strategies. The radioactivity of
iodine-129 is eliminated by bombarding it with neutrons, as it
absorbs the neutron it gets converted into non radioactive
Xenon isotope. [5]

Fig 7: Schematic diagram of pot Melter used for Vitrification of

HLW: Trombay
Source: [12]

VIII. CONCLUSION

Radioactive waste must be diligently identified, classified,

stored, transported, and disposed off after appropriate
treatment. With the growth in number of nuclear reactors and
mass production of nuclear weapons in different parts of the
world, the radioactive waste generation has seen a significant
increase. It is important to reduce the radioactivity of the high
Fig 6 : process of nuclear transmutation. Source: [5] level waste which can be achieved by nuclear transmutation.
Similarly, other methods of reprocessing such as using the low
level radioactive waste in useable products like ducrete and
B. Vitrification
vitrified products must be made possible. In sum, by wisely
Storage of radioactive waste for long period of time requires following the rules and regulations of radioactive waste
the waste into a form which will neither react nor degrade for management, public and the environment will be safeguarded
extended periods of time and vitrification is one such method by irradiation from the deleterious radioactive waste.
used to store it for long period. In this process, high-level
waste is mixed with sugar and then calcined. Calcination is the
process of passing the radioactive waste through a rotating
 International Conference on Technologies for Sustainable Development (ICTSD-2015), Feb. 04 – 06, 2015, Mumbai, India

[4] Japan atomic energy agency. Description of Radioactive Waste Disposal

in JAPAN. [Online]
http://www.jaea.go.jp/english/04/ntokai/backend/backend_01_04.html.
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[Online] http://web.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-2/text/radmain.html.
We are very grateful to our college professor and mentor, Dr. [6] reactor concepts manual. USNRC technical training center. Vol. 10.
Hansa Jeswani for reviewing the manuscript in spite of her [7] swiss federal nuclear safety insoectorate. Ensi. [Online]
very busy schedule. She provided many important information http://www.ensi.ch/en/waste-disposal/deep-geological-repository/.
and suggestions which helped in the accomplishment of this [8] US member of commerce, Revisiting America’s nuclear waste policy.
Institute for 21st Century Energy. s.l. : US member of commerce, 2009.
paper.
[9] Entergy corporation. Indian point energy center. [Online] Entergy
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References fuel.html.
[10] W. J. Quapp, Starmet CMI,W. H. Miller, University of Missouri-
[1] World Statistics. Nuclear Energy Institute. [Online] Columbia,James Taylor, Starmet CMI,Colin Hundley, Starmet
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