Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges (2001) / Chapter Skim
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9. International Cooperation
9. International Cooperation
Pages 143-157
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This chapter describes the most important areas of international cooperation, the work of international organizations, and opportunities for greater cooperation. RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT ISSUES TRANSCEND NATIONAL BOUNDARIES The key goals of assuring that nuclear safeguards are maintained and of demonstrating long-term safety both demand international approaches in waste management (see Sidebar 9.1~.
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Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (IAEA, 1997a) explicitly supports international cooperation and acknowledges that shared facilities can be beneficial.
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Included in the discussion is a description of the types of activities fostered by international organizations, together with the committee's views on the possibilities for increasing their value. The issue of regional or international repositories in which one host country disposes of wastes from other nations is discussed.
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The IAEA Safety Series documents are recognized internationally, and its legal conventions (such as the recent Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management,
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A more proactive role is played by international organizations when they organize groups who try to develop new initiatives or ideas. These groups are sometimes very formalized, examples being the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC)
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in the United States is also open for international cooperative experiments. Joint project work between national programs has not, however, been restricted to URL studies.
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When other countries moved 10-20 years later to build stronger disposal programs (e.g., in East Asia, or Eastern Europe) , there was a trend toward national agencies commencing commercial consulting practices.
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in the past few years. The attitudes and concerns of the public concerning radioactive wastes appear to have much in common.
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Various countries introduced legislation banning import of radioactive wastes (e.g., France, Sweden, Finland, and Russia)
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These proposals are mentioned in the following sections, which concentrate, however, on the still more controversial issue of disposing of foreign wastes in a host country. International Repositories A Global Issue There is widespread acceptance of the fact that all countries are not independent in all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, and there is wide agreement that close cooperation in waste management technology is to be encouraged.
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There is no reason to tighten the rigorous safety requirements set for national disposal facilities, and it is definitely not ethical to seek regions or countries where less stringent safety measures could be acceptable. In both multinational and national cases, one needs a disposal system that provides the same internationally agreed-on, high level of safety over very long times.
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Although there are few or no stumbling blocks hindering international repositories on technical, economic, or institutional grounds, politically it has proven difficult for most countries to support international disposal. However, some countries have openly expressed interest in the export or import of radioactive wastes.
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CONCLUSIONS Based on the foregoing discussion, the committee offers the following conclusions on international cooperation and international repositories. 1 Atsuyuki Suzuki is a member of this committee.
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as well in institutional design, it would be worthwhile to consider the role that cooperation across national boundaries could play here also. International Repositories The following conclusions can be drawn on the potential role of international repositories in radioactive waste management:
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On the other hand, the sensitivity of radioactive waste issues has slowed progress toward common solutions based on shared facilities for storage or disposal. The committee believes that technical cooperation has helped national programs move ahead, that collaboration could be intensified more in both the technical and the social sciences, and that both national and international storage and disposal facilities will be needed in the future.
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