International experience

International experience of geological disposal

Geological disposal is being adopted by a number of countries as a solution for the long-term management of higher activity radioactive waste.

We have looked at overseas experience as part of our work to help us better understand issues such as:

Finland and Sweden both applied voluntary processes to find suitable sites. In each case, development work and consultation has been carried out over a long period of time.

In Finland, a nuclear waste repository, known as Onkalo (‘cavern’), is now under construction in the granite bedrock a few miles from Olkiluoto. 

You can view an information film about Onkalo below or by clicking here.

An interesting documentary has also been made about this repository and some of the ethical issues involved.

Copies of the film, Into Eternity, are available to buy on Amazon and can be rented in iTunes. You can view a trailer of the film here.

DVD copies of the documentary are also available to rent in the libraries in Whitehaven, Workington, Carlisle, Penrith, Kendal and Barrow. 

Groundworks at Forsmark in Sweden will soon be underway after a voluntary process in which two communities competed to host the repository.

  

At Bure in North East France, the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (ANDRA) has also been testing geology and technologies to contain radioactive waste in an underground facility.

Members of the Partnership visited this facility in September 2011. The group descended 1,600 feet into the Meuse/Haute-Marne underground research laboratory which has been built to test the suitability of the area. 

It was an opportunity to see what lessons can be learnt and what construction looks like above ground while detailed investigations into potential site suitability are taking place. The team also met with local people and talked to them about the role they feel the community has been able to play in shaping the work that is being done there. A report will be made available in the Documents section shortly.

The U.S. already has an operational geological disposal facility at Carlsbad, New Mexico. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, began disposal operations in March 1999. It disposes of defence-related waste. We had a meeting about the WIPP site in March, consisting of a series of presentations and discussions by video links.

This gave Partnership members the chance to find out more about the facility and to talk to some of those involved in running the site as well as members of the local community. A report from this virtual visit is available here.


However, plans for the Yucca Mountain Repository in Nevada have been more controversial. President Obama decided to stop work on the repository shortly after he was elected and discussions are still taking place about what should happen to America’s non-military radioactive wastes.

In Denmark, authorities are looking at six potential locations for a repository for its low and intermediate level radioactive waste. These have been identified in a study submitted to the country's government.

The Partnership’s Community Benefits Sub-Group commissioned an International Review of Community Benefits, which provides useful information about the kind of benefits packages that have been offered to communities where nuclear waste facilities have been, or are going to be, sited.