POWER September 2016 - 50

NUCLEAR
8. Part of the solution. The Korea Radioactive Waste Agency (KORAD) began storing
waste at the country's only underground low- and intermediate-level facility last year, but a solution
for long-term storage of high-level waste has not yet been developed. Courtesy: KORAD
he noted, is becoming globalized. France
participated in development of the six-year
program that enrolls 100 students each year.
Courses are taught in Chinese, French, or
English. The students, who know no French
at the start of the program, get five months
to learn how to follow math, chemistry, and
physics courses in that language.
The UK is among the nations emphasizing
education in STEM (science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics) fields to develop
the pipeline for future nuclear workers,
explained Dawn Vinall, manager of business
development for the National Skills Academy
for Nuclear. The government, she said,
is supportive of a national nuclear college.
She also noted that the UK's focus on longterm
skills management has included the
" free movement of people, " a statement that
met with a few chuckles, as a true break with
the EU could constrain the free movement of
workers across UK borders.
Charles Potter of the UK's Nuclear National
Lab said that the industry also needs
a more diverse workforce. In the UK, 25%
of nuclear workers are female today, but the
country has a goal of 40% by 2030.
End-of-Life Considerations
How to dispose of high-level waste (HLW)-
from medical, military, and other industrial
uses as well as power production-over the
long term is an issue no country has yet resolved.
Deep geologic repositories are the
standard planned approach, and a couple of
pilot projects have been developed, but progress
toward a full-scale operating site anywhere
has been slow.
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For spent nuclear fuel (SNF), reprocessing
is an option that is being used by some nations,
but that leaves other sources of HLW,
including select components from decommissioning
projects. According to the World
Nuclear Association, as of the beginning of
2016, " about 110 commercial power reactors,
46 experimental or prototype reactors,
over 250 research reactors and a number of
fuel cycle facilities have been retired from
operation. " Though not all plant components
are radioactive, let alone HLW, the waste disposal
problem is large and widespread.
As Angelo Paratore of Italy's National
Radioactive Waste Management Agency
explained, " Italy is definitely out of nuclear
power production, " but not out of nuclear
material management. It currently has about
1,000 people involved in decommissioning
and closing the nuclear fuel cycle. It
has a contract with France for reprocessing
fuel and is working with France's ANDRA
(the national radioactive waste management
agency) to develop a National Repository
that is a " near-surface facility with engineering
barriers and natural barriers arranged in
series " -similar to French, Spanish, Belgian,
and Korean designs. Paratore noted that Italy
will be looking for voluntary site hosts.
The UK, too, has a contract with ANDRA
and is looking for a site for near-surface
(<200 meters deep) disposal, as " not all higher-activity
waste needs geological disposal, "
said Bruce McKirdy, managing director of
Radioactive Waste Management Ltd.
Even operating plants are bumping up
against waste disposal challenges. Though
South Korea has developed a site for lowPOWER
| September 2016

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POWER September 2016

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