Abstract
The impact of advanced nuclear fuel cycles on radioactive waste management and geological disposal has been evaluated within the Red-Impact project. Five representative fuel cycles, which were considered in equilibrium, were identified. After a 50 years cooling time, the heat generated in the high-level radioactive waste arising from advanced fuel cycles is significantly lower than that in spent fuel from the "once through" fuel cycle. This would allow the dimensions of a geological repository to be reduced. The impact of advanced fuel cycles on the radiological consequences in the case of the expected evolution or reference scenario is rather limited. This is because the maximum dose in this scenario, which is calculated to occur a few tens of thousands of years after the disposal of the waste is essentially due to mobile fission and activation products; as geological disposal systems are very effective at retarding the migration of actinides, the contribution of the actinides to the effective dose is limited. On the other hand, calculated doses to a geotechnical worker resulting from inadvertent intrusion into a high-level waste repository are significantly reduced in the case of advanced fuel cycles, because of the much lower actinide content of the waste.
Details
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Conference Proceedings EURADWASTE'08. Seventh European Commission Conference on the Management and Disposal of RAdioactive Waste |
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Place of Publication | Luxembourg, Luxembourg |
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Pages | 141-151 |
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Volume | 1 |
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Publication status | Published - Dec 2009 |
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Event | EURADWASTE 2008 - 7th European Commission Conference on the Management and Disposal of Radioactive Waste - European Commission, Luxembourg, Luxembourg Duration: 20 Oct 2008 → 23 Oct 2008 |
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Name | EUR series |
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Number | 24040 |
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Conference | EURADWASTE 2008 - 7th European Commission Conference on the Management and Disposal of Radioactive Waste |
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Country/Territory | Luxembourg |
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City | Luxembourg |
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Period | 2008-10-20 → 2008-10-23 |
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