For every 1,000 megawatts of electric power produced at a nuclear station, 27 tons of highly dangerous waste are produced.
By Yiannis Elafros
Kathimerini

Every 1,000 megawatts of electric power produced at a nuclear power station generates 27 tons of high-risk , 300 tons of medium-risk and 50 tons of low-risk waste. Since 1960, more than 200,000 tons of radioactive waste has been produced, and every year thousands more tons are added to the pile. These figures do not include leaks of radioactive gas and liquid. Reactors themselves, after 30 years of life, become so much radioactive waste themselves. The entire planet is in danger of becoming a radioactive dump.

This is a problem that has re-emerged since the furor over the use of depleted uranium in NATO warheads during the bombing of Yugoslavia. This is a material that is itself a by-product of the extraction of uranium 235 from uranium ore at nuclear power stations.

For every kilo of uranium 235, about half a ton of uranium ore is needed. The rest remains as waste. That is how entire mountains of uranium 238 (depleted uranium) are produced.

"More than 700,000 tons were produced in uranium depletion units in the US. Dealing with them proved too expensive and therefore it was decided to use them in the armaments industry and also in parts of airplanes and ships or for other purposes," said assistant professor of nuclear physics at Athens University, Thanassis Geranios.

Far more dangerous waste is also produced after combustion within the reactor. "The problem is an explosive one. In meetings of the seven most powerful countries in the world, the first issue on the agenda is what to do with nuclear waste," underlined the professor.

Radioactive waste is stored and transported in special containers, but is still a public health hazard. For many years, Germany transported radioactive waste to reprocessing plants in France, leading to several battles to try and prevent these transports from passing through. In 1998, after revelations that there had been considerable radioactive leakage, the transports stopped, although 10 days ago the German and French governments agreed to resume them. "The companies and governments had not foreseen the strength of people's opposition and had underestimated the problem itself," emphasized Geranios. "These days, managing one kilo of spent nuclear fuel costs more than buying a kilo of uranium for a reactor," he said.

Of course there are fears that large quantities of nuclear waste have been stored carelessly or have been tossed into the oceans, often by means of deliberate shipwrecks.

In the past, the imagination of the nuclear lobby was literally unbridled. There were those who proposed sending the waste out into space; others suggested burying it between the Earth's tectonic plates! Nowadays proposals are more practical, but very expensive and of doubtful effectiveness.

The Swiss company ODM Inc. suggests disposing of radioactive asbestos by means of a "torpedo" stuffed with waste, which becomes lodged in the sea bed. The company claims that for that very reason it would not corrode. However, it is hard to accept that conventional storage materials would outlast radioactivity, which hangs around for thousands of years. Of course there are still cheaper solutions.

"Albania has made an agreement with Germany for the use of its old mines as storage facilities. But that can by no means considered safe," said Geranios. "In the event of an earthquake, if the water table level changes and covers the storage areas, the corrosion process would be speeded up and radioactivity could then spread out everywhere," he added. Another significant threat to the Balkans is the Kozloduy nuclear reactor in Bulgaria.

"The problem is not only the operation of the two aged reactors, but the accumulation of waste. Previously, Bulgaria sent its waste to be processed for free in the former Soviet Union. Nowadays Russia is demanding huge amounts of money that Bulgaria just doesn't have, and so the waste is mounting up right next to the nuclear plant," he said.

Rather than a nuclear power, Russia is at risk of turning into a nuclear dump. At the end of December, the Duma decided by a broad majority to accept over 20,000 tons of waste within the next 10 years in exchange for 21 billion dollars. The countries who will be sending their waste are Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Taiwan, South Korea and China. The waste is to be collected in two old nuclear plants at Mayak and Krasnoyarsk, already considered nuclear crematoria.

The signatures of over 2.5 million Russians have been submitted to Parliament in protest, demanding a referendum on the issue. Parliament, questioning the validity of 700,000 of these signatures, rejected the petition.