Authors: Pete Roche, Bertrand Thuillier, Bernard Laponche, Miles Goldstick, Hideyuki Ban and Robert Alvarez
Greenpeace commissioned some of the world’s leading experts on nuclear waste to produce an overview of the current status of nuclear waste across the world.
As the nuclear industry continues to struggle to compete in the rapidly evolving global energy market, the toxic legacy of decades of nuclear reactor operation and all the waste that continues to be produced to support it, remains a central element in any debate on the future of nuclear power, including decisions on nuclear reactor phase out.
For every year of nuclear reactor operation, nuclear waste volumes across the world will continue to be generated. Without exception, all countries reviewed were found lacking a no sustainable and safe solution for managing the vast volumes of nuclear waste. This includes high level spent fuel produced in all nuclear reactors, for which to date all efforts to find secure and safe permanent disposal options have failed.
Focusing on 7 major nuclearized countries (Belgium, France, Japan, Sweden, Finland, United Kingdom and United States), it shows that the multiple stages of the nuclear fuel cycle produce large volumes of radioactive wastes; and that no government has yet resolved how to safely manage these wastes.
The conclusion of the report is clear: underground repository research has failed as a solution.
Download the full report in English.
Download the full report in French.