Organic-containing nuclear wastes and national inventories across Europe

A wide range of organic-containing wastes exists throughout Europe, the majority of which can be classed as intermediate-level or long-lived low-level waste. In some countries, organic-containing wastes have already been disposed within near-surface or geological disposal facilities, whilst in others, the wastes are stored pending the availability of a suitable disposal facility. The organic materials can be summarized as follows: bitumen, organic ion-exchange resins, halogenated and nonhalogenated polymers, cellulose materials, and other polymers such as rubber, polyurethane, polyamides, etc. The amounts and proportions of these organic materials vary by country and this reflects their different nuclear industry and power generation activities. In many countries, ion-exchange resins dominate the inventory of organic ILW, where it results from nuclear power generation using light-water reactors. Higher inventories of halogenated plastics and other related plastic and cellulose wastes result from countries that undertake fuel reprocessing and have a larger inventory from nuclear research. In addition to inorganic cement encapsulants, bitumen has been commonly used to condition a range of wastes. Once disposed of, these organic materials will provide a major source of organic carbon that has the potential, following degradation, to fuel anaerobic microbial processes.