Disposal Tasks Research Articles

Radioactive Waste Disposal Task Taking Environment into Consideration

Radioactive Waste Disposal Task Taking Environment into Consideration

Posiva's Site Investigations Programme

Four nuclear power plant units have been operated in Finland over 20 years. The plants are located at two sites, Olkiluoto and Loviisa. Responsibility for nuclear waste management lies on the utilities, which have established a joint company POSIVA to take care of spent fuel disposal and other expert tasks of nuclear waste management.Already in 1983 the Finnish Government set the objectives and the schedule for the national waste management programme. Since then, two shallow underground repositories have been constructed for low- and medium-level operating waste in crystalline rock at the power plant sites. At the end of 2002 the amount of operating waste emplaced in these two facilities was 4923 m3 (total accumulation 6724 m3).Spent nuclear fuel is stored in interim storage pools at the nuclear power plant sites. The total accumulation was 1228 tU at the end of 2002. Today, the main activities in nuclear waste management concern spent fuel disposal deep in the Finnish bedrock. Apart from technical and scientific issues, a major challenge faced has been the creation of sufficient public acceptance, which is a must in order to obtain favourable political decisions.

Commercial Systems for the Direct Detection of Explosives for Explosive Ordnance Disposal Tasks

There are a number of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) tasks in which it is necessary to discriminate and identify UneXploded Ordnance (UXO) already detected by other means. What we seek is the capacity to characterize in a non-destructive way the munition's content, usually either explosive or inert (e.g., practice munition), if possible using a fairly mobile system and without direct contact. A number of existing technologies for the direct detection of explosives, applicable in EOD scenarios, are therefore characterized, and corresponding commercially available systems or advanced prototypes identified whenever possible. Some of the techniques are also useful for the detection of buried UXO or landmines, to which we refer whenever appropriate. We first concentrate on bulk explosive detection, in particular on neutron based systems exploiting gamma spectroscopy, which have the potential of detecting the explosive's nitrogen content and/or its other constituents (carbon, oxygen and hydrogen). Candidate systems exist, although most of them have as primary aim the discrimination of chemical munition. We then describe the application of trace explosive detection techniques, which seems to be less mature also due to the large number of parameters influencing the variables of interest (explosive vapor and particle concentration). Sampling is in this case of primary importance.

Nuclear fuel: recycle or dispose? how? where? when?

This paper considers the broad issues raised by the increasing inventory of stored used fuel from nuclear power stations worldwide. It reviews nuclear waste disposal, concluding that deep geological disposal can be safely achieved, but will depend crucially on simple transparent processes and the achievement of consensus. As the technology is now available, there is every reason to proceed with disposal as soon as the consensus can be achieved. The effects of recycling by reprocessing on the disposal task are examined. Reprocessing always reduces the volume of high level waste for disposal, usually reduces the high+intermediate volume, and, given recycling of uranium and plutonium, also decreases the total waste volume. As the quantifiable risks from reprocessing are very small, reprocessing is a viable waste treatment and recycling process, and it is for the nuclear utilities to determine whether it fits their strategic and commercial needs. Certainly recycling by reprocessing has a valid place in the programme, particularly in the UK. The sustainability adage that 'recycling is good' and the imperative that 'the polluter pays' are both relevant to the nuclear industry. Both can be furthered by a continuation of reprocessing in the world in general. In the UK in particular, only the continuation of reprocessing can provide the income stream which can both fund and motivate the safe, timely cleanup of much of the UK's historic legacy of nuclear waste.

Nuclear fuel: recycle or dispose? how? where? when?

This paper considers the broad issues raised by the increasing inventory of stored used fuel from nuclear power stations worldwide. It reviews nuclear waste disposal, concluding that deep geological disposal can be safely achieved, but will depend crucially on simple transparent processes and the achievement of consensus. As the technology is now available, there is every reason to proceed with disposal as soon as the consensus can be achieved. The effects of recycling by reprocessing on the disposal task are examined. Reprocessing always reduces the volume of high level waste for disposal, usually reduces the high+intermediate volume, and, given recycling of uranium and plutonium, also decreases the total waste volume. As the quantifiable risks from reprocessing are very small, reprocessing is a viable waste treatment and recycling process, and it is for the nuclear utilities to determine whether it fits their strategic and commercial needs. Certainly recycling by reprocessing has a valid place in the programme, particularly in the UK. The sustainability adage that 'recycling is good' and the imperative that 'the polluter pays' are both relevant to the nuclear industry. Both can be furthered by a continuation of reprocessing in the world in general. In the UK in particular, only the continuation of reprocessing can provide the income stream which can both fund and motivate the safe, timely cleanup of much of the UK's historic legacy of nuclear waste.

Managing Infection Control, Hazards Communication, and Infectious Waste Disposal

Dentistry entered a new era in the 1980s when the development of the AIDS crisis targeted dental facilities as one source of potential cross-infection with pathogenic microorganisms. As governmental agencies "discovered" dentistry, regulations forced practitioners to assume duties not previously required. Also, substantial costs of compliance became a significant consideration to employers. Managing the compliance and cost considerations of governmental regulation requires dedicating personnel, preferably one person, to the management of infection control, hazards communication, and infectious waste disposal tasks. predictably, this person--the safety supervisor--will develop into the new auxiliary specialist of the 1990s.