Disposal as the end point of radioactive waste management

We present a brief overview of the current state of radioactive (or nuclear) waste (RW) management (RWM), focusing on its end point and international advice provided by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). RW, defined as waste that contains, or is contaminated with, radionuclides at activity concentrations greater than clearance levels set by the national regulatory organisations with guidance from the IAEA, is a by-product of nuclear energy generation, research, the production of life-saving radiopharmaceuticals and industrial applications (e.g., disused radioactive sources from geophysical logging instruments). RW is also produced from processing of materials containing naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) such as those typically occurring in oil and gas production (e.g., mineral scale, produced water), ore beneficiation (e.g., tailings and sludges) and water purification (e.g., filter media, reverse osmosis membranes). RWM envisions all administrative and operational activities involved in the handling, pretreatment, treatment, conditioning, transport, storage and disposal of RW. Disposal involves emplacement of RW in a dedicated facility without the intention of retrieval, requiring waste matrices and waste packages, which conform with waste acceptance criteria (WAC); safety of disposal is demonstrated on the basis of operational and postclosure safety cases. By international consensus, the disposal is the end point of RWM activities. We discuss RW classification, give examples of RW inventories, summarise general considerations regarding RWM and provide an overview of global experience and current trends in geological disposal.