European nations continue to struggle with establishing permanent disposal for tens of thousands of tons of radioactive spent nuclear fuel, and with determining how much it will cost, according to a new report published by the Berlin-based Heinrich Boell Foundation.
Sixteen European nations held 60,500 tons of used fuel as of the end of 2016, led by France with 13,990 tons, Germany with 8,485 tons, and the United Kingdom with 7,700 tons, the report says. Those numbers do not include Russia and Slovakia.
No nation has to date built a permanent repository for “this most dangerous type of nuclear waste,” the 2019 Nuclear Waste Management Report says. Finland is building its disposal facility, while Sweden and France have essentially selected their repository locations.
By law, spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States must be interred in a repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. However, that repository remains unlicensed and unbuilt, and is strenuously opposed by state officials in Nevada.
European nations, again minus Russia and Slovakia, are also holding on to 2.5 million cubic meters of low- and intermediate-level waste. Decommissioning of nuclear power plants could produce another 1.4 million cubic meters, and storage capacity is growing tighter, the report says. As examples, the authors wrote that Finland’s storage capacity for spent fuel is down to 7%, while a Swedish site has just 20% of its space remaining.
National governments are also not accurately assessing the expenses for nuclear decommissioning and storage and disposal of radioactive waste, the report asserts.
“Many countries reviewed here such as France, Germany, and the US base their estimates on studies from the 1970s and 1980s, rather than on the few existing real-data cases,” it says. “Using outdated data, in most cases drawn up by operators, industry, or state agencies, likely leads to low-cost estimates and overly optimistic conclusions.”
This was the first edition of the report. It was supported by Heinrich Boell and other green groups in Europe.
