Radioactive waste – the “unloved stepchild”

Date: 20/02/03

By Martin Banks

THE clock is ticking on the number-one question facing the nuclear industry: what to do with high-level radioactive waste.

European Commission proposals announced last autumn require member states to set clear timetables for disposal of such waste.

The Commission strongly favours burying it in underground bunkers. It wants these to be identified by 2008 at the latest and for member states to have the sites up and running by 2018.

So far, however, only Finland has taken a firm decision on a disposal site and Loyola de Palacio, the commissioner responsible for energy, makes no secret of her impatience at the lack of movement by the other 14 EU countries.

She has accused them of dragging their feet: "The main obstacle to disposal has been the lack of political initiatives to seriously start working on the basis of clear deadlines.

"The time has now come for member states to move to implementation."

She adds: "The public wants us to make faster progress in this area. We cannot delay any longer our decisions and must take our political responsibilities to find safe and sustainable long-term solutions.

"The best solution for the safe management of radioactive waste is deep disposal in stable geological formations."

One possible explanation for the reluctance of member states to act on the issue is what has been termed NIMBY - Not In My Backyard - syndrome.

This was certainly the experience in the UK. When Nirex (Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive) nominated four sites for the shallow disposal of radioactive waste in 1985, there was an outcry from people living nearby.

Property values in areas surrounding the proposed sites fell by as much as 50%. The plans were eventually dropped.

"The issue is like an unloved stepchild," said one industry insider. "We just don't know what to do with it."

Commission officials hope that research being carried out at a centre in eastern Belgium may provide answers and win over some of the doubters.

From the outside, the nuclear research centre at Mol looks relatively nondescript, but its work is regarded as being at the cutting edge of worldwide research into the industry's long-term disposal problems.

Scientists there are investigating the viability of burying waste 225 metres below ground in a five kilometre-long labyrinth of underground tunnels. The ground at that depth consists of hard clay thought to be 30 million years old.

Centre chairman Frank Deconinck said that, although the final results of its research will not be known for some years, early indications are encouraging: "The disposal of radioactive waste in a formation which has been stable for million of years offers a good chance to be considered a safe solution."

Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin - who worked as a researcher at Mol shortly after it opened in 1952 - agrees with de Palacio that member states must face up to the disposal issue, difficult though this may be.

While recognising that radioactive waste has a "moral element because there could be a burden handed over to future generations", he insists that the EU cannot keep putting it off.

"We generate radioactive waste - we should dispose of it in a safe and appropriate manner," he said.

"The public should be better informed and governments should set clear, long-term objectives aimed at resolving this important environmental issue."

But try telling that to the NIMBYs.

The clock is ticking on the number-one question facing the nuclear industry: what to do with high-level radioactive waste.