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Finessing the fuel: Revisiting the challenge of radioactive waste disposal

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  • Pickard, William F.

Abstract

It is pointed out that the apparent decision of the United States to end development of the Yucca Flat, Nevada repository for permanent disposal of radioactive waste may inadvertently place it at variance with the disposal principles of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which caution nuclear nations that "The burden on future generations shall be minimized by safely disposing of high level radioactive wastes at an appropriate time, technical, social and economic factors being taken into account." It is then shown that the IAEA's ten technical criteria for underground disposal can seemingly be met by storing vitrified waste a kilometer underground in the crystalline basement rock of a mid-continent shield, where: (a) it should be invulnerable to redistribution by incompetence, natural disaster, or terrorism and (b) there is no obvious pathway for leakage into the biosphere. Finally, a method is proposed by which the storage impasse may be broken.

Suggested Citation

  • Pickard, William F., 2010. "Finessing the fuel: Revisiting the challenge of radioactive waste disposal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 709-714, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:38:y:2010:i:2:p:709-714
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    1. Moriarty, Patrick & Honnery, Damon, 2009. "What energy levels can the Earth sustain?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2469-2474, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Roman Seidl & Corinne Moser & Michael Stauffacher & Pius Krütli, 2013. "Perceived Risk and Benefit of Nuclear Waste Repositories: Four Opinion Clusters," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(6), pages 1038-1048, June.
    2. Pickard, William F., 2012. "Where renewable electricity is concerned, how costly is “too costly”?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 346-354.

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