Radioactive Waste Management –

The Perfect Career

Ian Gordon - Section Head, Waste Technology

IAEA

SAMIRA Workshop, Brussels, Belgium

13 November 2019

Radioactive Waste Management RWM -

The perfect career

• Strong social and environmental purpose

– Helping to clean up legacy wastes

– Enabling the application of atomic technologies

• Involves an unparalleled diversity of disciplines

• Responds to a sustained need . .

• . . from a global audience

• Thoughtful and engaging people to work with !

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General Waste

3

(Photo: IMAS/Jennifer Lavers, EPA)

Hawaii

New

Zealand Pitcairn

UN Sustainable Development Goals

4

Legacy Waste at Vinča, Serbia

Current situation in the H1 & H2 storage facilities facility5

Newly refurbished Waste

Processing Facility at Vinča, Serbia

• IAEA WTS through the TC department contracted a radioactive waste

management company to perform retrieval and processing of the waste

from the current storage facilities to the new H3 facility (funding support

from IAEA, EC and USA).

6

Non-power nuclear applications at the IAEA

Making cleaner water

accessible to more people

Water Resources

Understanding and

protecting the environment

Environment

Promoting food security

and sustainable agricultural

development

Food & Agriculture

Improving the diagnosis

and treatment of diseases

and nutrition

Human Health

Providing knowledge and

expertise for science and

industry

Science & Industry

77

Mediterranean fruit fly Control in Dominican

Republic

8

Outbreak of medfly

Sterile Insect Technique

Support from Moscamed

>US$50 M

export market restored

10

20

30

40

50

60

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Outbreak

Eradication

Exports in US$ Millions

8

Enhancing Rice Production in Viet Nam

9

Increasing salt

content in soil;

decreasing rice

production

Irradiation techniques

and screening protocols

Transfer to lab

Salinity tolerant varieties

Benefits

>US$100 M/year

4.5 million farmers

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Safe, secure and

peaceful uses of nuclear

science and technology

Public

confidenceSafe, secure and

environmentally

sustainable

management of

radioactive waste

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The influence of radioactive waste on further progress

Access to waste processing facilities -

Mobile Processing Systems

Key benefits:• Lower capital cost

• Alternative to centralized facilities

• Easy replacement

• Shared use

• Useful for small volume streams

• Potential to cross borders

• Ability to schedule processing campaigns

Common uses:• Smaller volume, problematic waste streams

• Accident/urgent response situations

• Decommissioning & remediation

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Access to waste processing facilities-

Modular Designs for Small Volumes

• Ideal for small waste quantities

• Flexible size & configuration

• 11 pre-designed modules that can be

assembled & factory-tested off-site before

being transported to waste

processing/storage site

• Processing modules available for:• High & low volumes of liquid waste

• All types of solid waste:

- compactable & non-compactable

• Sludges, ion-exchange resins, DSRS

• Can be combined to form an integrated

process scheme

• Storage modules are available for all types

of LLW packages/DSRS and sizes of

inventory

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Modular Design & Mobile Treatment Workshops

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Small Inventories – one-of-a-kind operations: Management

of Disused Sealed Radioactive Sources (DSRS)

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Standardisation – The borehole disposal system

Link to CRP (Coordinated Research Project)

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Radioactive Waste World-Wide

NPPsResearch

ReactorsDSRS

Hospitals, R&D, Disused

Sealed Sources

Decommissioning &

Environmental Remediation

Front-End Fuel Facilities

NPP, Research Reactor & Back-End

OperationsPhotos courtesy of Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd & NDA, UK;

Cameco Corporation.16

Opportunities for Cooperation• Regional hubs – “Qualified Technical Centres” *

– DSRS: advice, training, (dismantling & conditioning)

• Catalogue of available services– Mobile services

• Characterization

• Processing

– Design engineers – small companies • E.g. shielding calculations, safety case, safety assessment, pre-feasibility studies

• Reference designs & specifications– Small volume storage facilities

– Legacy waste characterization, retrieval and processing

– DSRS dismantling and conditioning*

• Mobile hot cell*

• Mapping the available waste processing services

*Ongoing IAEA activity17

IAEA Waste Technology Section Programme

• Publications

• Coordinated Research Projects

• Professional networks

• Technical Cooperation Projects

• ARTEMIS peer reviews

• E-learning

• Databases & Inventory Systems

• Videos– Radioactive Waste (animation) – 2 minutes – Link

– Radioactive Waste – The Journey to Disposal (10 minutes) – Link

• Nuclear Communicators’ Toolbox – link

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Relevant Publications

Management of DSRS

NW-T-1.3 - Link

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Policies and Strategies for RWM

NW-G-1.1 - Link

IAEA Code of Conduct (& Supplementary Guidance)

Radioactive sources (in use) -

Link 20

Disused Radioactive

sources (after use) - Link

• The IAEA has an online learningplatform (former CLP4Net) available with eLearning materials, free of charge.

• The materials on Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management, Decommissioning and Environmental Remediation are organized by thematic areas and distributed into courses for better understanding and use. Altogether, there are currently 45 modules with a total of 93 lectures. Some are available in other languages as well. More are under way.

• Access is possible also through the IAEA CONNECT platform, via the professional Networks.

Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management, Decommissioning

and Environmental Remediation

Professional Networks - link

• Free of charge

(registration required)

• Open to all professionals

working in the field

• Access to

• A network of fellow

professionals

• Relevant information

on the subject

• Updates on

developing projects

22Newly launched – DSRS-net !

Peer Reviews – ARTEMIS • Main objectives: to provide independent expert opinion and advice to MS

– IAEA put together a team of international experts

– policy, regulatory and implementation experiences are combined

• Intended for facility operators and other implementing organizations,

regulators, government agencies, policy makers

• Scope can include facilities and activities related to:

– Spent nuclear fuel and Radwaste management and disposal,

– Decommissioning,

– Environmental remediation

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RWM in the Future *……• Life-cycle radioactive waste management planning begins

before any waste is generated

• Waste hierarchy principles are adopted (avoid, minimize, recycle, reuse, dispose) to minimize waste going to disposal

• End-of-life plans are in place for all new sealed sources (i.e. recycle, return, disposal)

• All waste is characterized at the point of generation

• A waste inventory is created and tracked at all life-cycle stages

• Fit-for-purpose processing, storage and disposal solutions are selected and implemented in a timely manner

• Adequate provision is made for radioactive waste management resources at all stages – financial, technical and human

*Ongoing IAEA activity – Integrated Waste Management Plans 24

The role of the IAEA

• Enabling the safe, sustainable and peaceful use

of nuclear technology

–The Agency shall seek to accelerate and enlarge the

contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and

prosperity throughout the world . . (Article II – Objectives)

–The Agency is authorized to . . . foster the exchange

of scientific and technical information on peaceful

uses of atomic energy (Article III – Functions)25

• Established 1957

• HQ in Vienna, Austria

• Laboratories in Seibersdorf,

Monaco and Vienna.

• Regional offices in Toronto

and Tokyo.

• Liaison offices in New York and

Geneva

The International Atomic Energy Agency - IAEA

171 Member States

2,500+staff

from

over 100 countries

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Thank you!

IAEA CONNECT Site