5. Nuclear Waste
Nuclear wastes are created at every link in the nuclear chain and are among the most toxic substances humankind has created, lasting thousands of generations.
There are many different kinds of nuclear waste but attention tends to focus on what is known as 'High Level Waste': the spent, or 'burned' fuel rods after they have been taken out of a nuclear reactor.
Since 1945, a huge amount of plutonium has been produced – a total of about 1,600 tonnes has been produced in power reactors, in addition to the 250 tonnes of plutonium produced in military reactors for weapons.
Global commercial stocks of separated plutonium have nearly doubled from 147 tonnes since the General Assembly called for fissile material controls in 1993. According to official data submitted to the IAEA by the leading plutonium states, by December 2002 commercial stocks had risen to around 273 metric tons, compared with 249 tons in military stockpiles. [1]
Most of this plutonium was located in the UK, France and Russia - all declared nuclear weapon states. [2]
The world's nuclear power reactors are producing an additional 70 tonnes of plutonium a year. Japan’s proposed reprocessing plant at Rokkasho-mura will produce as much as 6-7 tons each year of operation. Within the first ten years of operation, it is likely to separate 30-40 tons of plutonium. [3]
Despite billion of dollars of investment in various disposal options, the nuclear industry and governments have failed to come up with a feasible, safe and sustainable solution for managing nuclear wastes for the periods of time required.
1. See Declarations of the Permanent Missions to the IAEA, published under the reference No 549 of the IAEA “Information Circular” www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Infcircs.
2. Other non-nuclear weapon states with commercial contracts with the plutonium industry and with access to significant quantities of fissile material are Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Canada.
3. The actual operation of Rokkasho-mura and therefore the amount of plutonium it will separate each year is at this stage impossible to know. Apart from many anticipated technical problems that will affect annual throughput, political and commercial decisions will also determine the amount of spent fuel actually reprocessed each year. If the plant were to operate without major incident, it can expected that in year one the throughput of spent fuel from 50-100 tons will rise to full operation in year 4 or 5. Thus actual plutonium separation in the first few years will be around 1-2 metric tons.
