Watching brief on advanced fuel cycles and alternative waste management technology – 2020 update

However, the NWMO recommended keeping a watching brief on the status of the technology internationally, and the potential for change in the fuel cycle in Canada. [...] A second potential benefit is to reduce the burden on a deep geological repository by reducing the “radiotoxicity” of the waste in the repository. [...] While reducing the long-lived actinides reduces the “radiotoxicity” of the waste and is clearly favorable, it may not significantly improve the overall safety of a repository because the actinide elements have very low mobility in the repository environment. [...] In particular: » In the United States, after the decision to stop the Yucca Mountain repository licence application, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) conducted in 2010 and 2011 an extensive review of options for management of the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle in the United States. [...] With the waste placed at this depth, further away from the biosphere than in the mined repository concept, the long-term safety of the system would rest primarily on the separation of the hydrogeological regime at the depth of the waste packages from that near the surface, and on the integrity of the borehole plugs and seals.