Radioactive waste management and contaminated site clean-up reviews radioactive waste management processes, technologies, and international experiences. Part one explores the fundamentals of radioactive waste including sources, characterisation, and processing strategies. International safety standards, risk assessment of radioactive wastes and remediation of contaminated sites and irradiated nuclear fuel management are also reviewed. Part two highlights the current international situation across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. The experience in Japan, with a specific chapter on Fukushima, is also covered. Finally, part three explores the clean-up of sites contaminated by weapons programmes including the USA and former USSR.Radioactive waste management and contaminated site clean-up is a comprehensive resource for professionals, researchers, scientists and academics in radioactive waste management, governmental and other regulatory bodies and the nuclear power industry. - Explores the fundamentals of radioactive waste including sources, characterisation, and processing strategies - Reviews international safety standards, risk assessment of radioactive wastes and remediation of contaminated sites and irradiated nuclear fuel management - Highlights the current international situation across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America specifically including a chapter on the experience in Fukushima, Japan

Investigates the potential synergies between decommissioning and site remediation in order to allow for the implementation of both processes in an integrated and cost effective way. The publication reviews the planning procedures for, and operational constraints on, partial remediation of sites.

Nuclear Waste Management Facilities: Advances, Environmental Impacts, and Future Prospects examines best practices and recent trends in improving nuclear safety and reducing the negative environmental impacts of nuclear waste. With strong emphasis on regulatory requirements, this reference is essential for designing new integrated waste management practices, using lessons learned from historical and current practices. Divided into three key sections, Part One introduces the reader to the safety and environmental impacts of the nuclear industry. Part Two reviews recent technological and methodological approaches to enhancing safety, as well as reducing the carbon footprint of both individual processes and integrated facilities. Topics covered include waste processing, transmutation and decommissioning. Part Three consider potential management schemes for special waste from innovative sources, and wastes that contain emerging contaminants, including waste recycling opportunities. Nuclear Waste Management Facilities: Advances, Environmental Impacts, and Future Prospects is a crucial tool needed to implement the safest and most environmentally considerate best practices within nuclear waste management facilities. - Presents recent approaches used to assess and improve the safety and reduce the environmental impacts of nuclear waste management facilities - Offers technical guidance to support the development and defense of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) and Safety Cases to support the waste management facilities licensing throughout their lifecycles - Highlights the future perspectives for wastes produced from innovative reactors and wastes containing emerging contaminants, and recycling opportunities

This book focuses on nuclear engineering education in the post-Fukushima era. It was edited by the organizers of the summer school held in August 2011 in University of California, Berkeley, as part of a collaborative program between the University of Tokyo and UC Berkeley. Motivated by the particular relevance and importance of social-scientific approaches to various crucial aspects of nuclear technology, special emphasis was placed on integrating nuclear science and engineering with social science. The book consists of the lectures given in 2011 summer school and additional chapters that cover developments in the past three years since the accident. It provides an arena for discussions to find and create a renewed platform for engineering practices, and thus nuclear engineering education, which are essential in the post-Fukushima era for nurturing nuclear engineers who need to be both technically competent and trusted in society.

Once a nuclear installation has reached the end of its safe and economical operational lifetime, the need for its decommissioning arises. Different strategies can be employed for nuclear decommissioning, based on the evaluation of particular hazards and their attendant risks, as well as on the analysis of costs of clean-up and waste management. This allows for decommissioning either soon after permanent shutdown, or perhaps a long time later, the latter course allowing for radioactivity levels to drop in any activated or contaminated components. It is crucial for clear processes and best practices to be applied in decommissioning such installations and sites, particular where any significant health and environmental risks exist.This book critically reviews the nuclear decommissioning processes and technologies applicable to nuclear power plants and other civilian nuclear facilities. Part one focuses on the fundamental planning issues in starting a nuclear decommissioning process, from principles and safety regulations, to financing and project management. Part two covers the execution phase of nuclear decommissioning projects, detailing processes and technologies such as dismantling, decontamination, and radioactive waste management, as well as environmental remediation, site clearance and reuse. Finally, part three details international experience in the decommissioning of nuclear applications, including the main nuclear reactor types and nuclear fuel cycle facilities, as well as small nuclear facilities and legacy nuclear waste sites. - Critically reviews nuclear decommissioning processes and technologies applicable to nuclear power plants and other civilian nuclear facilities - Discusses the fundamental planning issues in starting a nuclear decommissioning process - Considers the execution phase of nuclear decommissioning projects, including dismantling, decontamination, and radioactive waste management, as well as environmental remediation, site clearance and reuse

The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (EM) directs the massive cleanup of more than 100 sites that were involved in the production of nuclear weapons materials during the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. This report offers suggestions for more effectively characterizing and treating the orphan and special-case wastes that are part of EM's accelerated cleanup program. It identifies technical opportunities for EM to improve the program that will save time and money without compromising health and safety. The opportunities identified include: making more effective use of existing facilities and capabilities for waste characterization, treatment, or disposal; eliminating self-imposed requirements that have no clear technical or safety basis; and investing in new technologies to improve existing treatment and characterization capabilities. For example, the report suggests that EM work with DOE classification officers to declassify, to the extent possible, classified materials declared as wastes. The report also suggests a new approach for treating the wastes that EM will leave in place after cleanup.

The classification of radioactive waste varies from state to state. This results in different management procedures for each country, while following IAEA and OECD/NEA recommendations. Radioactive waste comes from numerous sources. The largest volumes are generated by the decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear facilities. Long-lived, medium- and high-activity waste – categorized as the most hazardous types of waste – are in fact largely produced by nuclear power reactors, spent fuel reprocessing plants and nuclear accidents. Final disposal of very low-activity, low-activity and very short-lived waste is well controlled. However, final solutions for certain categories, including long-lived waste, sorted waste and spent graphite waste, are not yet in place. Management of Radioactive Waste reviews all the possible solutions and presents those chosen by the various states, including a chapter detailing policy on radioactive waste management, taking France as an example.