Radioactive waste disposal: Global experience and challenges

Since the world's first disposal of radioactive waste in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1944, considerable experience has been acquired in the field. The first disposal site — intended for "actively contaminated broken glassware or materials not sufficiently clean to be used in other work" — was a simple trench filled with unconditioned waste located on the Oak Ridge site. Similar approaches were adopted by other nuclear facilities and waste generators in the United States and other countries during the early phases of nuclear power's development. Today, the world's disposal sites for lowand intermediate-level radioactive wastes (LILW) range from near-surface facilities to engineered geological repositories. More than one hundred LILW disposal facilities are, or have been, operating, and more than 42 repositories are under some stage of development in the IAEA's Member States. (See the table on pages 38 and 39.) Accompanying the progress, a number of issues and challenges have arisen in countries pursuing radioactive waste disposal options. At the global level, the IAEA has been working to assist them in these efforts by promoting the transfer of technologies, particularly to developing countries. The work entails the collection, summary, and dissemination of updated technical information and support for co-ordinated research programmes on specific technical aspects. Within that context, this article presents an overview of international experience in landbased LILW disposal systems, and addresses the emerging issues and challenges now facing countries in this field.