Evolution of Higher Activity Waste Management
Evolution of Higher Activity Waste Management
Editor, Trevor Jones, and SRP Past President, Sheila Liddle, have experienced significant policy changes for the long-term management of Higher Activity Waste( HAW) throughout their careers, from the international ban on sea dumping to several iterations in the search for land-based disposal options.
The discovery of radioactivity in 1898 led to rapid growth in the extraction and use of radioactive materials, especially radium. Understanding of radiation hazards developed and, by the 1920s, several countries had introduced controls on occupational exposure, focussed on the keeping and use of radioactive substances. There were no controls for radioactive wastes, which were generally disposed of with other refuse in surface tips.
In 1947, the government decided Britain should have an independent nuclear deterrent. Design, construction and commissioning of the necessary infrastructure was completed in under four years – an unimaginable feat by modern standards. Although nuclear research had taken place before the Second World War, this decision effectively marked the beginning of the nuclear era and led to a significant increase in the quantity and activity of radioactive wastes produced in the UK. Scientists recognised the need to consider radiological risks after disposal, and that different protection standards were needed for wastes that could be handled in the laboratory and those requiring remote handling. This led to the activity boundary between Low Level Waste( LLW) and
Intermediate Level Waste( ILW) which is still used today. This article focusses on the evolution of HAW management, with limited reference to LLW for context.
Large-scale sea dumping of munitions had been carried out by the UK since about 1919 and increased significantly after World War II. It is therefore unsurprising that the UK began sea dumping of High Level Waste( HLW) and ILW in 1948. By the time the practice was banned in 1982, the UK had disposed of 35,109 TBq of radioactive waste at 33 sites in the North Atlantic, Bay of Biscay, Irish Sea, North Sea and English Channel, in water depths ranging from 65 m to 5,200 m. This represents 41 % of the international total, second only to the former Soviet Union, whose inventory included more than six reactors with spent fuel.
The practice of sea dumping was banned in stages, repeatedly forcing the UK to reconsider its disposal strategy. After the London Convention banned sea dumping of HLW in 1972, UKAEA submitted planning applications to investigate seven potential HLW disposal sites. All encountered significant opposition, forcing the government to abandon the investigations at six of the sites and adopt a policy of longterm HLW storage.
Low Level Waste( LLW) has a specific activity < 12 GBq / te ꞵγ and < 4 GBq / te α. Higher Activity Waste( HAW) is the collective term for wastes with a specific activity above the LLW limit. These comprise Intermediate Level Waste( ILW), which is not heat-generating, and High Level Waste( HLW) which generates significant decay heat.
There is a further explanation of this in the Back to Basics pullout on p. 40.
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