The methods of safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and waste

Abstract

The current problem is the issue of safe storage of nuclear waste, especially materials generated as waste in nuclear power plants. In the nuclear fuel cycle, in the fuel, a large amount of artificial radionuclides are created (most of them are much more active than uranium), so radioactivity in the normal reactor operation is about a billion times greater than before entering the reactor (1021 Bq observed for 100 tons). Radionuclides are the most important part of the nuclear waste and their safe storage and removal from the natural environment is very important. For now, utilized nuclear fuel (high radio-co-active waste which remains after its transformation) is temporarily stored in special storages in order to exploit a rapid decline initial period of its radioactivity and thus simplify further operation with it. In this paper the literature data of different methods of disposal of nuclear waste are presented.