Nuclear waste, Greenpeace warns: “We are facing a global crisis”
Energy — di Andrea Barolini
A report drawn up by a group of experts on behalf of Greenpeace speaks of “saturated” sites and the absence of sustainable long-term plans.
Nuclear waste, Greenpeace warns: “We are facing a global crisis”
A report drawn up by a group of experts on behalf of Greenpeace speaks of “saturated” sites and the absence of sustainable long-term plans.
The world is now "saturated" with nuclear waste. And none of the main countries that use atomic energy has a detailed, long-term plan for managing it. This is the conclusion of a report by Greenpeace France, published on 31 January.
250,000 tonnes of nuclear waste in the world
The study – entitled "La crise mondiale des déchets nucléaires" (The global nuclear waste crisis) and drawn up by a group of subject-matter experts – analysed the situation in seven countries: Belgium, France, Japan, Sweden, Finland, Great Britain and the United States. It took into account the various waste produced along the entire nuclear "chain".
Sur les 7 pays analysés dans le rapport sur "la crise mondiale des déchets nucléaires", aucun ne dispose dʼune estimation crédible de la totalité des coûts qui devront être supportés pendant des décennies, voire des siècles #RisqueNucléaire greenpeace.fr/dechets-nuclea…
The analysis therefore began with uranium mining activities and ended with "the most dangerous materials" – namely the nuclear waste produced by reactors. According to Greenpeace, there are already "250,000 tonnes of highly radioactive spent fuel" in the world today. This waste is currently spread across a total of fifteen countries. And the majority "is stored in cooling pools" at the power plants themselves.
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A gigantic quantity, given that such waste cannot, of course, be treated or stored without enormous precautions. This inevitably also entails very high costs. Yet the study explains that, of the seven countries analysed, "none has a credible estimate of the total expenditure that will need to be faced in this regard over the coming decades".
In France, the thorny issue of the La Hague reprocessing site
Greenpeace's finger is pointed in particular at France. The Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety in Paris has already highlighted how the La Hague pools, on the English Channel, are at the limit of saturation. This is where the spent fuel from France's reactors is deposited to cool. The company Orano (formerly Areva) has, however, poured cold water on the issue, explaining that there will be no problems "until 2030".
Les installations nucléaires ☢️ sont insuffisamment protégées et les piscines de combustible irradié comme celles de l'usine Orano de La Hague quasi saturées. Nous continuons de sonner l’alerte pour que des mesures soient appliquées au plus vite. Stop au #RisqueNucléaire 🛑
What is clear, however, is that the site will fill up sooner or later. As will those in other countries. Despite this, Pete Roche – one of the report's authors – explains that "no country in the world has a solution for high-level radioactive waste".
"Safe and sustainable geological storage does not exist"
The Greenpeace document adds that "the nuclear industry, with the support of governments at various levels, continues to choose the path of geological storage", which consists simply of burying the waste deep underground. "However, nowhere in the world does a system of underground storage exist that is sustainable and safe in the long term," the experts add. They also cite the cases of Sweden and Finland, where the most advanced techniques have been introduced: "Even in these cases, great uncertainty remains."