CAN WE SAFELY STORE NUCLEAR WASTE FOR A MILLION YEARS?

With more than 440 nuclear power plants operating in 31 countries and a further 66 nuclear power plants under construction, the volume of high-level nuclear waste is growing at an alarming rate. Even short exposure to the radioactivity generated by nuclear waste is lethal. Consequently, humanity needs to be protected from the effects of nuclear waste for as much as a million years, the time taken for the radioactivity to decay to harmless levels.

Is it possible to design and construct a repository that guarantees the secure storage of nuclear waste for such an incredibly long time? For more than 50 years some countries have been developing techniques for the safe disposal of nuclear waste in deep geological formations. Current plans involve multiple technical and geological barriers that should, in principle, prevent the radioactive elements from reaching the shallow parts of the earth. However, the populations of most countries have yet to accept the concept of deep geological repositories. A wide variety of issues associated with the safe disposal of radioactive waste will be discussed during the presentation.

..

Dr Alan Green is currently emeritus professor at the Institute of Geophysics in the Department of Earth Sciences at ETH University in Zurich. He had previously been full Professor of Engineering and Environmental Geophysics at the University for more than 20 years.