Radioactive Waste Disposal and Geology

1 Introduction.- 1.1 Industrial waste and radioactive waste.- 1.2 Radiation.- 1.3 Radioactivity.- 1.4 Kinds of radioactive waste.- 2 High-level waste: the problem.- 2.1 Generation of high-level waste.- 2.2 Storage, disposal, containment, and isolation.- 2.3 Is immediate disposal necessary?.- 2.4 Amounts and composition of high-level waste.- 3 Strategies for solving the problem.- 3.1 Alternatives for disposal.- 3.2 Requirements for mined geologic disposal.- 3.3 Engineered barriers.- 3.4 Geologic barriers.- 3.5 Retrievability.- 4 Models of radionuclide release.- 4.1 Models and scenarios.- 4.2 Solubility.- 4.3 Sorption.- 4.4 Alternative models.- 5 Critique of disposal models.- 5.1 Questions from a skeptic.- 5.2 Uncertainty in solubilities and retardation factors.- 5.3 Initial oxidizing conditions.- 5.4 Effects of heat.- 5.5 Effects of radiation.- 5.6 Geologic and meteorologic events.- 5.7 Human error and equipment failure.- 5.8 Human intrusion.- 6 The geology of repository sites.- 6.1 General requirements.- 6.2 Crystalline rock in Sweden.- 6.3 Bedded salt in Texas.- 6.4 Tuff in southern Nevada.- 6.5 Summary.- 7 Natural analogs.- 7.1 Uses of analogs.- 7.2 Analogs for canister materials.- 7.3 Analogs for bentonite in backfill.- 7.4 Analogs for the waste form.- 7.5 Analogs for radionuclide movement.- 7.6 Oklo.- 7.7 Discussion.- 8 The subsea-bed option.- 8.1 The ocean as a dumping-ground.- 8.2 Finding a disposal site in the ocean.- 8.3 Techniques of subsea-bed disposal.- 8.4 Problems of subsea-bed disposal.- 8.5 High-level waste: general summary.- 9 Waste that is not high-level.- 9.1 Low-level waste: problems of definition.- 9.2 Low-level waste: problems of disposal.- 9.3 TRU waste.- 9.4 Uranium mill tailings.- 9.5 Low-level waste: summary.- 10 Institutional aspects of waste disposal.- 10.1 The politics of repository siting.- 10.2 National institutional arrangements.- 10.3 International organizations.- 11 Some questions of policy.- 11.1 Introduction.- 11.2 Surface storage versus underground disposal.- 11.3 To reprocess or not to reprocess?.- 11.4 Waste isolation: how effective and for how long?.- 11.5 Disposal in the near future versus delay.- 11.6 Is more research needed?.- Further reading.