| Issue |
MATEC Web Conf.
Volume 120, 2017
International Conference on Advances in Sustainable Construction Materials & Civil Engineering Systems (ASCMCES-17)
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 06003 | |
| Number of page(s) | 9 | |
| Section | Geotechnical and Geo-environmental | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201712006003 | |
| Published online | 09 August 2017 | |
Geologic environments for nuclear waste repositories
1 Dept. of Civil Engineering, Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
2 Assoc. Provost & Chief Academic Officer, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
3 Dept. of Geography and Planning, Paris Sorbonne University-Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
* Corresponding author: evan.paleologos@adu.ac.ae
High-level radioactive waste (HLW) results from spent reactor fuel and reprocessed nuclear material. Since 1957 the scientific consensus is that deep geologic disposal constitutes the safest means for isolating HLW for long timescales. Nuclear power is becoming significant for the Arab Gulf countries as a way to diversify energy sources and drive economic developments. Hence, it is of interest to the UAE to examine the geologic environments currently considered internationally to guide site selection. Sweden and Finland are proceeding with deep underground repositories mined in bedrock at depths of 500m, and 400m, respectively. Equally, Canada’s proposals are deep burial in the plutonic rock masses of the Canadian Shield. Denmark and Switzerland are considering disposal of their relative small quantities of HLW into crystalline basement rocks through boreholes at depths of 5,000m. In USA, the potential repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada lies at a depth of 300m in unsaturated layers of welded volcanic tuffs. Disposal of low and intermediate-level radioactive wastes, as well as the German HLW repository favour structurally-sound layered salt stata and domes. Our article provides a comprehensive review of the current concepts regarding HLW disposal together with some preliminary analysis of potentially appropriate geologic environments in the UAE.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2017
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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