A geological disposal facility for the UK’s radioactive wastes

Abstract

Nuclear power is an essential part of our future energy mix. However, to be fully credible, an active and visible programme of work is needed to demonstrate that radioactive wastes will be disposed of safely. In the UK, a programme for managing historic and committed wastes is being developed and the success of this programme will affect the management of all future waste arisings. Higher activity and longer lived wastes will be consigned to a deep geological disposal facility designed to provide passive isolation of the wastes after it has been sealed and closed. This article begins by considering how such a facility and the barriers that it comprises will contain and isolate radioactivity. It then considers the committed inventory of UK wastes and the repository engineered design options that might be available for them, in the diverse range of geological environments that may emerge from the government’s current voluntary siting process. Much support and information can be gained from over 30 years of international effort on geological disposal and this article sets this in the context of some specific issues facing the UK waste management programme. The article concludes by looking at confidence in repository safety and at where repositories may be built in Europe over the next decades.