Management of radioactive wastes from medical, scientific and industrial use of radio-isotopes and from energy production poses both technological and societal challenges. Low-level and some intermediate-level radioactive wastes (LILW) can be safely disposed in engineered near-surface repositories, but longer-lived intermediate-level waste (ILW), spent fuel from nuclear reactors (SF), high-level wastes from reprocessing of SF (HLW) and long-lived spent sealed sources (SSS) are considerably more radioactive and have a higher content of long-lived radionuclides. These wastes require a higher degree of containment and isolation deep underground, typically in geological disposal facilities (GDF). A wide range of GDF designs has been investigated and developed internationally, tailored to suit specific wastes types and geological conditions. Disposal in medium-depth (tens to hundreds of metres) boreholes in suitable hard (igneous and metamorphic) rock or very deep sedimentary formations can provide adequate isolation and containment for safe and cost-effective disposal of relatively small volumes of ILW and SSS. Deeper borehole disposal (hundreds to thousands of metres) has been considered for HLW, SF, separated plutonium wastes and some very high specific activity fission-product wastes—its modularity being one of the major advantages over traditionally mined GDFs. This Special Issue is intended to provide an overview of R&DD developments over the past decade in regards to both medium depth SSS disposal and deep borehole disposal for various nuclear wastes.
For this Special Issue, we invited papers that discuss aspects of identifying waste streams potentially suitable for borehole disposal, site suitability characteristics and site selection, subsurface characterization of host rock and deep fluids, coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical-chemical modelling of borehole-host rock environments, borehole design and drilling and borehole management technologies, waste handling and emplacement technologies, borehole sealing, long-term engineered barrier behavior under high pressure and temperature, post-closure safety assessments, cost and economic modelling and strategic aspects of borehole disposal in national waste management programs. We also welcomed discussions on regulatory challenges surrounding deep borehole disposal, including those around safeguards termination versus ongoing monitoring.
Papers available in this Special Issue:
1. Granite Hydrolysis to Form Deep Brines
2. Deep Borehole Disposal Safety Case
3. Disposal of High-Level Nuclear Waste in Deep Horizontal Drillholes
4. Post-Closure Performance Assessment for Deep Borehole Disposal of Cesium / Strontium Capsules
5. Who Might Be Interested in a Deep Borehole Disposal Facility for Their Radioactive Waste?
6. Corrosion Performance of Engineered Barrier System in Deep Horizontal Drillholes
7. Thermal Evolution near Heat-Generating Nuclear Waste Canisters Disposed in Horizontal Drillholes
8. Status of Deep Borehole Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste in Germany
9. A Review of Potential Cementing Systems for Sealing and Support Matrices in Deep Borehole Disposal of Radioactive Waste
[Note: Part of the problems encountered with site specific borehole disposal is not having a regional geologic context for well-site selection. Anticipating the need for such, the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) in cooperation with UNESCO funded a program designed to: a) investigate the geologic structures (faults, joints, and other stress-relief features within igneous and metamorphic rocks around the world, b) identify the permeable nature of faults and joints zones in such rocks that would provide groundwater for domestic use or allow groundwater flow, and c) instruct professional personnel in countries with large expanses of hard rocks as to the methods of exploration and development of such groundwater resources in igneous and metamorphic rocks. The UNESCO report is still available:
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000063230].
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