Radioactive waste management and disposal – introduction to the special issue

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Abstract

In this special issue of AIMS Environmental Science, present trends of radioactive waste management are reviewed. In spite of nuclear energy production, radionuclides have many other important applications in medicine and industrial fields. The sustainability of all radionuclides applications depends on the proper management of radioactive wastes. The characteristics of these wastes can be very different depending on the previous application. Thus, we can find solid or liquid wastes with ranges of radioactivity from low/medium (< 3.7×10⁸ Bq) to high (10⁴ – 10⁶ TBq/m³). Nowadays, management of low/medium activity wastes is well established and mainly consists of the following basic stages: a) Prevention and minimization. Reduction of waste volume and activity are basic principles for environmental impact and cost decrease. In this line, short half-life radionuclides must replace long half-life ones [1], and wastes must be segregated according to solid/liquid state, radionuclide content, level of activity and half-life of radionuclides [2]. b) Storage for decay. When it is possible, storage of radioactive wastes is used to reduce the level of activity before discharge or transport to a disposal facility. c) Discharge after decay. Some radioactive liquid wastes (as the ones produced in some medical applications) can be discharge to sewer after storage for decay [3], if other release criteria such as radiological, chemical and biological ones are met. d) Concentrate and contain. When option of delay and decay is not practical due to the level of activity and/or the length of half-lives, radioactive waste must be concentrated by a conditioning process to reduce volume and then confine the radionuclides to prevent their dispersion in the environment [4]. After this, concentrated wastes are collected in suitable containers and buried in authorized sites.

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