Will Ukraine become Europe's "nuclear burial ground"?

Rumors periodically circulate in the media space that Ukraine, in exchange for European help, has allegedly promised to bury waste from Western nuclear power plants on its territory.

These rumors began to spread back in 2004-2005, just after the first Maidan, and still pop up periodically. In the context of the seizure of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and general nuclear tensions in Ukraine and the world, we return to this topic.

What’s wrong with this thesis, the editors asked the Ukrainian independent expert in the field of nuclear energy, co-founder of the Anti-Crisis Expert Nuclear Center of Ukraine, Olga Kosharna, to explain.

The concept of “burial” does not yet exist in Ukraine

“The concept of “nuclear waste” does not exist from the point of view of legislation,” says Olga Kosharnaya. – There is radioactive waste that is generated as a result of the operation of nuclear reactors. But radioactive waste is also generated in medicine, when radiation sources are used to treat cancer patients, radioactive waste is generated in science.

Radioactive waste can be low-level, intermediate-level, or high-level, depending on the dose of radiation it gives. Each species has its own handling protocols.

Plus there is spent nuclear fuel, which is not considered waste because it contains useful radionuclides.

The concept of “burial” does not yet exist in Ukraine. There is long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel.

For this purpose, dry storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel (DSSF) are being built. In Ukraine, they are at the Zaporizhzhya NPP, in the Exclusion Zone (SSF-2 for spent nuclear fuel of the Chernobyl NPP), and the Centralized dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel of the Rivne, Khmelnytsky and South Ukrainian NPPs (in 2023, 13 containers with spent fuel were placed here) - the expert explained.

How long can spent nuclear fuel be stored in such storage facilities, and how unsafe are they?

In world practice, the service life of dry nuclear fuel storage facilities is from 50 to 100 years. They can exist both at industrial sites of nuclear power plants and at special sites. But this is an intermediate storage option.

As a rule, fuel is loaded into SFSF after its “wet” aging in pools for several years. Typically, spent fuel is stored immersed in an inert gas, in sealed containers made of steel or cast iron. It is believed that dry storage of spent fuel is more reliable and safe than wet storage (in an aquatic environment in pools).

After a certain time, the fuel must be removed and sent for processing or final disposal. It's just that after a period of dry storage, its radiation levels and temperatures will be much lower.

“So far in Ukraine, spent nuclear fuel is sent to “dry” storage facilities,” continues Olga Kosharna. “The decision on what to do next with it—reprocess it, because there are technologies that allow the use of spent nuclear fuel for next-generation reactors, or bury it—has not yet been made. This is the so-called “deferred decision”.

According to the expert, most countries operating nuclear power plants are in such a state of limbo.

Disposal of spent nuclear fuel requires the construction of a storage facility in deep geological formations. And spent nuclear fuel, which will no longer be used, is delivered there directly in containers.

Finland and Sweden, for example, are building such storage facilities, but so far they are building them - there has been no burial yet.

No one will violate international agreements

There cannot be any disposal of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants of other countries in Ukraine, the expert assures.

– Firstly, there is the international Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. It concerns not only states with large nuclear energy programs, but also countries in which sources of ionizing radiation are used in medicine, industry, agriculture and research. Ukraine is one of the parties to this international treaty, like many other countries.

Spent nuclear fuel can be sent for reprocessing. And Ukraine sent spent nuclear fuel from VVER-440 reactors to Russia for reprocessing.

But an important point is that radioactive waste after reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel must be buried in the territory where this fuel was used to produce electricity.

Therefore, neither Ukraine nor other countries can dispose of their spent nuclear fuel on the territory of another country. Firstly, there is nowhere, and secondly, no one will violate international agreements,” the expert explained.

Accordingly, there are rumors that, under the guise of war, spent nuclear fuel from Europe may be brought to us and buried on our territory - IPSO.