Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes and Natural Analogues

Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes and Natural Analogues PDF Author: W. Miller
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080532454
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
Many countries are currently exploring the option to dispose of highly radioactive solid wastes deep underground in purpose built, engineered repositories. A number of surface and shallow repositories for less radioactive wastes are already in operation. One of the challenges facing the nuclear industry is to demonstrate confidently that a repository will contain wastes for so long that any releases that might take place in the future will pose no significant health or environmental risk. One method for building confidence in the long-term future safety of a repository is to look at the physical and chemical processes which operate in natural and archaeological systems, and to draw appropriate parallels with the repository. For example, to understand why some uranium orebodies have remained isolated underground for billions of years. Such studies are called 'natural analogues'. This book investigates the concept of geological disposal and examines the wide range of natural analogues which have been studied. Lessons learnt from studies of archaeological and natural systems can be used to improve our capabilities for assessing the future safety of a radioactive waste repository.

Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes and Natural Analogues

Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes and Natural Analogues PDF Author: W. Miller
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080532454
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Get Book Here

Book Description
Many countries are currently exploring the option to dispose of highly radioactive solid wastes deep underground in purpose built, engineered repositories. A number of surface and shallow repositories for less radioactive wastes are already in operation. One of the challenges facing the nuclear industry is to demonstrate confidently that a repository will contain wastes for so long that any releases that might take place in the future will pose no significant health or environmental risk. One method for building confidence in the long-term future safety of a repository is to look at the physical and chemical processes which operate in natural and archaeological systems, and to draw appropriate parallels with the repository. For example, to understand why some uranium orebodies have remained isolated underground for billions of years. Such studies are called 'natural analogues'. This book investigates the concept of geological disposal and examines the wide range of natural analogues which have been studied. Lessons learnt from studies of archaeological and natural systems can be used to improve our capabilities for assessing the future safety of a radioactive waste repository.

Natural Analogue Studies in the Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes

Natural Analogue Studies in the Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes PDF Author: W.M. Miller
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080875165
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
The first purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive review of the state of development of natural analogue studies with emphasis on those studies which are relevant to the following repository designs: Nagra (Switzerland) disposal concepts for high-level waste/low and intermediate-level waste; SKB (Sweden) disposal concepts for spent fuel/low and intermediate-level waste; and Nirex (UK) disposal concept for low and intermediate-level waste.The book's second aim is to discuss the expanding application of natural analogues for non-performance assessment purposes, especially their potential for presenting the concept of geological disposal to various interested audiences in a coherent, understandable and scientifically legitimate manner.Much of the discussion of the book is relevant to concepts for geological disposal of radioactive wastes by other countries, and is concerned only with those physico-chemical processes which control the release of radionuclides from the near-field, and their subsequent retardation and transport in the geosphere.

Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes and Natural Analogues

Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes and Natural Analogues PDF Author: W. Miller
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080553052
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
Many countries are currently exploring the option to dispose of highly radioactive solid wastes deep underground in purpose built, engineered repositories. A number of surface and shallow repositories for less radioactive wastes are already in operation. One of the challenges facing the nuclear industry is to demonstrate confidently that a repository will contain wastes for so long that any releases that might take place in the future will pose no significant health or environmental risk. One method for building confidence in the long-term future safety of a repository is to look at the physical and chemical processes which operate in natural and archaeological systems, and to draw appropriate parallels with the repository. For example, to understand why some uranium orebodies have remained isolated underground for billions of years. Such studies are called 'natural analogues'. This book investigates the concept of geological disposal and examines the wide range of natural analogues which have been studied. Lessons learnt from studies of archaeological and natural systems can be used to improve our capabilities for assessing the future safety of a radioactive waste repository.

Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes and Natural Analogues

Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes and Natural Analogues PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Many countries are currently exploring the option to dispose of highly radioactive solid wastes deep underground in purpose built, engineered repositories. A number of surface and shallow repositories for less radioactive wastes are already in operation. One of the challenges facing the nuclear industry is to demonstrate confidently that a repository will contain wastes for so long that any releases that might take place in the future will pose no significant health or environmental risk. One method for building confidence in the long-term future safety of a repository is to look at the physical and chemical processes which operate in natural and archaeological systems, and to draw appropriate parallels with the repository. For example, to understand why some uranium orebodies have remained isolated underground for billions of years. Such studies are called 'natural analogues'. This book investigates the concept of geological disposal and examines the wide range of natural analogues which have been studied. Lessons learnt from studies of archaeological and natural systems can be used to improve our capabilities for assessing the future safety of a radioactive waste repository.

Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel

Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309073170
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
Focused attention by world leaders is needed to address the substantial challenges posed by disposal of spent nuclear fuel from reactors and high-level radioactive waste from processing such fuel. The biggest challenges in achieving safe and secure storage and permanent waste disposal are societal, although technical challenges remain. Disposition of radioactive wastes in a deep geological repository is a sound approach as long as it progresses through a stepwise decision-making process that takes advantage of technical advances, public participation, and international cooperation. Written for concerned citizens as well as policymakers, this book was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and waste management organizations in eight other countries.

The Microbiology of Nuclear Waste Disposal

The Microbiology of Nuclear Waste Disposal PDF Author: Jonathan R. Lloyd
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 012818695X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
The Microbiology of Nuclear Waste Disposal is a state-of-the-art reference featuring contributions focusing on the impact of microbes on the safe long-term disposal of nuclear waste. This book is the first to cover this important emerging topic, and is written for a wide audience encompassing regulators, implementers, academics, and other stakeholders. The book is also of interest to those working on the wider exploitation of the subsurface, such as bioremediation, carbon capture and storage, geothermal energy, and water quality. Planning for suitable facilities in the U.S., Europe, and Asia has been based mainly on knowledge from the geological and physical sciences. However, recent studies have shown that microbial life can proliferate in the inhospitable environments associated with radioactive waste disposal, and can control the long-term fate of nuclear materials. This can have beneficial and damaging impacts, which need to be quantified.

Deep Time Reckoning

Deep Time Reckoning PDF Author: Vincent Ialenti
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262539268
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
A guide to long-term thinking: how to envision the far future of Earth. We live on a planet careening toward environmental collapse that will be largely brought about by our own actions. And yet we struggle to grasp the scale of the crisis, barely able to imagine the effects of climate change just ten years from now, let alone the multi-millennial timescales of Earth's past and future life span. In this book, Vincent Ialenti offers a guide for envisioning the planet's far future—to become, as he terms it, more skilled deep time reckoners. The challenge, he says, is to learn to inhabit a longer now. Ialenti takes on two overlapping crises: the Anthropocene, our current moment of human-caused environmental transformation; and the deflation of expertise—today's popular mockery and institutional erosion of expert authority. The second crisis, he argues, is worsening the effects of the first. Hearing out scientific experts who study a wider time span than a Facebook timeline is key to tackling our planet's emergency. Astrophysicists, geologists, historians, evolutionary biologists, climatologists, archaeologists, and others can teach us the art of long-termism. For a case study in long-term thinking, Ialenti turns to Finland's nuclear waste repository “Safety Case” experts. These scientists forecast far future glaciations, climate changes, earthquakes, and more, over the coming tens of thousands—or even hundreds of thousands or millions—of years. They are not pop culture “futurists” but data-driven, disciplined technical experts, using the power of patterns to construct detailed scenarios and quantitative models of the far future. This is the kind of time literacy we need if we are to survive the Anthropocene.

Geological Disposal of Carbon Dioxide and Radioactive Waste: A Comparative Assessment

Geological Disposal of Carbon Dioxide and Radioactive Waste: A Comparative Assessment PDF Author: Ferenc L. Toth
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048187125
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 639

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Book Description
Fossil fuels will remain the backbone of the global energy economy for the foreseeable future. The contribution of nuclear energy to the global energy supply is also expected to increase. With the pressing need to mitigate climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the fossil energy industry is exploring the possibility of carbon dioxide disposal in geological media. Geological disposal has been studied for decades by the nuclear industry with a view to ensuring the safe containment of its wastes. Geological disposal of carbon dioxide and that of radioactive waste gives rise to many common concerns in domains ranging from geology to public acceptance. In this respect, comparative assessments reveal many similarities, ranging from the transformation of the geological environment and safety and monitoring concerns to regulatory, liability and public acceptance issues. However, there are profound differences on a broad range of issues as well, such as the quantities and hazardous features of the materials to be disposed of, the characteristics of the targeted geological media, the site engineering technologies involved and the timescales required for safe containment at the disposal location. There are ample opportunities to learn from comparisons and to derive insights that will assist policymakers responsible for national energy strategies and international climate policies.

Natural Analogues in Radioactive Waste Disposal

Natural Analogues in Radioactive Waste Disposal PDF Author: B. Come
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400934653
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 499

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Book Description
In order to validate predictive models of the very long-term processes which affect the performance of radioactive waste repositories, there has been an increased interest in the information and understanding which can be obtained from studying similar mechanisms in natural systems. These "natural analogues", as they are known in the jargon of waste management, have been studied sporadically for many years, but there has been a considerable rejuvenation of interest in the last four years, possibly owing to the fact that performance assessment methodolo gy is gradually maturing to the point where it needs the kind of support which analogues can offer. Since 1982, the Commission of the European Communities has been involved in specific work on natural analogues in the framework of its activities on radioactive waste management, principally within the MIRAGE project which concerns migration of radionuclides in the geosphere. As a consequence, the Commission took the initiative, in 1985, of establish ing a Natural Analogue Working Group (NAWG) whose members can benefit from the overall expertise available for managing their own natural analogue research programmes. In this group, modeller' s requirements and the results of field research are exchanged at regular intervals. A number of wide-ranging investigation programmes, both on national and international scales. are currently underway or being initiated, and several of these have been discussed recently at the NAWG.

Clays in Natural and Engineered Barriers for Radioactive Waste Confinement

Clays in Natural and Engineered Barriers for Radioactive Waste Confinement PDF Author: S. Norris
Publisher: Geological Society of London
ISBN: 186239654X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 618

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Book Description
This Special Publication contains 43 scientific studies presented at the 5th conference on ‘Clays in natural and engineered barriers for radioactive waste confinement’ held in Montpellier, France in 2012. The conference and this resulting volume cover all the aspects of clay characterization and behaviour considered at various temporal and spatial scales relevant to the confinement of radionuclides in clay, from basic phenomenological process descriptions to the global understanding of performance and safety at repository and geological scales. Special emphasis has been given to the modelling of processes occurring at the mineralogical level within the clay barriers. The papers in this Special Publication consider research into argillaceous media under the following topic areas: large-scale geological characterization; clay-based concept/large-scale experiments; hydrodynamical modelling; geochemistry; geomechanics; mass transfer/gas transfer; mass transfer mechanisms. The collection of different topics presented in this Special Publication demonstrates the diversity of geological repository research.