Disposal of radioactive waste in rock caverns: Current situation in the Czech Republic
-
Published:January 01, 2008
Abstract
Disposal of Czech institutional radioactive waste began in 1959. Waste (predominantly low level and short-lived) is disposed of in rock chambers that have been excavated in several different rock types, originally for different purposes, and subsequently used for radioactive waste disposal. All Czech radioactive waste repositories are operated by the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (RAWRA). The oldest Czech repository is Alcazar near Beroun, a town in central Bohemia. This repository commenced operation in 1959. Two galleries in Devonian limestone were excavated between 1942 and 1944. Disposal at Alcazar ended in 1965. In 1994, the repository was closed. Bratrství, near...
Figures & Tables
Contents
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.
GeoRef
- Bohemia
- carbonate rocks
- caverns
- Central Europe
- Czech Republic
- depth
- Devonian
- engineering properties
- environmental analysis
- Europe
- limestone
- metamorphic rocks
- Paleozoic
- public policy
- radioactive waste
- sedimentary rocks
- site exploration
- underground installations
- underground storage
- waste disposal
- Alcazar Repository