Deep Geologic Repositories

Deep Geologic Repositories reviews the success stories of underground waste isolation. It focuses on repositories that did, do, and will permanently and safely isolate dangerous materials from the near-surface biosphere. Complementary topics address the isolation capability of average crustal rock, investigations at one representative underground research laboratory, and the geologic preservation of fission products from Precambrian nuclear reactors. An international cast of contributors presents proven practical solutions to a formerly confounding issue in environmental and engineering geology: What do we do with wastes that retain their dangerous characteristics in human terms forever? The principal answer: Recycling into the lithosphere by “reverse” mining.
Geological disposal of radioactive waste—Experience from operating facilities in Sweden
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Published:January 01, 2008
Abstract
Geological disposal has been the basis for the Swedish program for disposal of radioactive waste since its beginning in the mid-1970s. Two underground facilities have been in operation since the late 1980s.
The construction of the final repository for short-lived, low- and intermediate-level waste, SFR (Swedish final repository for radioactive operational waste), started in 1983, and it was put into operation in 1988. The facility is located 50 m below the sea, close to the Forsmark nuclear power plant, where the sea has a depth of ∼5 m. Low-level waste is placed in four rock vaults, each of which...