Preliminary Safety Studies for Conventional Spent Fuel, MOX, and Vitrified High-Level Waste

Abstract

This paper discusses the results of post-closure safety studies for two different waste streams that, according to current Swiss waste-management concepts, may be co-disposed in a single deep geological repository. The waste streams are:• directly disposed spent UO2 and mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel• vitrified high-level waste from the reprocessing of spent fuelThe inventories are based on a consideration of the anticipated arisings from nuclear power generation in Switzerland. A part (at least) of these arisings will be reprocessed, with the resultant vitrified high-level waste and long-lived intermediate-level waste returned to Switzerland. The Swiss electricity utilities have placed contracts with BNFL (UK) and COGEMA (France) for the reprocessing of about one third of the total arisings of spent fuel from nuclear power generation, assuming an electricity production scenario of 120 GWa(e). The decision as to whether to reprocess the remainder is currently left open, implying that up to two thirds of the arisings could be in the form of unreprocessed spent fuel for direct disposal. For the purposes of the present study, however, it is assumed that the arisings from the full 120 GWa scenario will be either directly disposed or reprocessed.