AZ Safety Assessment of the New Very Low - Level Waste Disposal Installation at El Cabril , Spain - 9042

The sixth General Radioactive Waste Plan approved by the Spanish government in 2006, foresees important volumes of wastes with a very low content of radioactivity mainly coming from the dismantling of nuclear power plants, along with the occurrence of some radiological industrial incidents in the past. This fact has boosted the construction of a new disposal installation, specifically designed for this category of waste. This new installation is part of the existing low and intermediate level waste (LILW) disposal facility at El Cabril, and includes four cells with a total capacity of around 130,000 m. The design of the cells is consistent with the European Directive for the disposal of hazardous waste and fulfils the same basic safety criteria as the present facility for LILW. The safety assessment methodology applied for the very low level waste (VLLW) installation is fully coherent with the approach adopted for the existing disposal facility for low and intermediate level waste (concrete vaults disposal system) and takes into account the potential impact of the new installation during both the operational and long-term periods. The license for the VLLW installation was granted by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce (MITYC) in July 2008, following technical approval by the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN), and the first disposal operation occurred in October 2008. INTRODUCTION The El Cabril disposal facility, located in the province of Córdoba, is an essential part of the national management system for LILW. The new very low level waste disposal installation is integrated at El Cabril in all aspects: site, organization, infrastructures, environmental impact, etc. It is located in the south-east area of the current site for LILW (Fig. 1). With this complementary installation ENRESA will be able to manage the large quantities of waste with a very low content of radioactivity generated especially in the dismantling of the nuclear power plants, as well as those from radiological industrial incidents occurring in the past, thus avoiding the use of the existing capacity of the “high tech” concrete vaults for LILW previously constructed at El Cabril and designed for wastes with a higher level of activity [1,2]. This paper outlines the design principles, objectives and criteria of the disposal installation for VLLW, and describes the facilities. It explains the safety assessment performed to evaluate the radiological impact for the public and the environment and also to assist in estimation of the waste acceptance criteria, as part of the documentation produced to obtain the authorization to operate. SAFETY OBJECTIVES AND CRITERIA The disposal of very low level waste is required to fulfil the same basic safety objectives and criteria as accepted for the existing LILW facility at El Cabril [3]. However, the technical design was based on the regulations governing disposal facilities for non-radioactive hazardous waste in Europe, more in keeping