Radioactive Waste Repository Authority

The mission of the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority is to ensure the safe disposal of radioactive waste in the Czech Republic in accordance with requirements concerning the protection of the population and the environment from any harmful effects. SÚRAO's principal responsibilities include:

• the safe operation of existing radioactive waste repositories;
• preparation for the construction of a deep geological repository for high-level waste;
• maintaining records of accepted radioactive waste and its producers;
• management of levies paid by radioactive waste producers to the Nuclear Account;
• ensuring and coordinating research and development in the field of radioactive waste management;
• provision of services in the field of radioactive waste management.

SÚRAO's activities are directed principally by provisions set out in the Atomic Act and its various implementing regulations, the Concept of Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel Management in the Czech Republic and other relevant legislation. In addition, the treatment of radioactive waste is subject to international treaties and recommendations relating to the use of nuclear energy and ionising radiation which have been adopted by the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic currently has three radioactive waste repositories in operation: The Richard repository located in the former limestone mine of the same name near Litoměřice (60 km north west of Prague), the Bratrství repository located in a former uranium mine near Jáchymov (140 km north west of Prague) and the Dukovany repository located within the Dukovany nuclear power plant complex (200 km south east of Prague). The Hostim repository near Beroun (Central Bohemia) ceased operation more than 50 years ago.

The repository covers a total area of 16 hectares and is located near the town of Litoměřice. The surface area contains the operations building, an information centre, a laboratory and a fully accredited facility for the testing of waste containers and so-called special form radioactive materials. The total available volume of the former mining complex exceeds 17,000m³, while the underground capacity which has been designed specifically for the storage of waste comprises 10,250m³; the remainder is made up of service corridors and other service areas. The Richard repository is intended primarily for the storage of so-called institutional waste which is generated by the health, industry, agriculture and research sectors. Items disposed of include contaminated work clothes, damaged emitters and syringes.

The Bratrství repository at Jáchymov is located in one section of the underground complex of an abandoned former uranium mine of the same name. The repository itself makes up only a small part of the mining works which takes up a total area of 9.8 square kilometres with more than 80 km of tunnels and crosscuts. Since its commissioning the Bratrství repository has been reserved solely for waste containing natural radionuclides. Waste of this category is created mainly in the decommissioning of certain types of emitters used in the health care and research sectors. The repository has a radioactive waste storage capacity of around 360m³ which will soon be exhausted. The final date and method of closure of the repository will be dependent on the future volume of stored radioactive waste; notwithstanding, decommissioning is planned for around 2020.

The Dukovany surface repository occupies an area of 1.3 hectares within the Dukovany nuclear power plant complex and was designed specifically for the disposal of low- and intermediate-level waste from the Dukovany and Temelin nuclear power plants. The total volume of storage space amounts to 55,000 cubic meters, i.e. enough for around 180,000 waste drums. This capacity will be sufficient for the storage of all the operational waste produced by both plants even if their planned lifetimes should be extended to 40 years. The Dukovany repository provides for the storage of both liquid and solid radioactive waste. Solid waste includes contaminated protective clothing, cleaning cloths, packaging materials, paper, foil, electrical installation materials, construction debris etc.; liquid radioactive waste consists of waste water.

Every year Czech nuclear power plants produce approximately 80 to 100 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel. The State Energy Concept, drawn up by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, presumes that the production of nuclear power will increase in the future. Whether produced by currently operational or future new reactors, there will always be sources of spent nuclear fuel and high level waste to be disposed of.

At present, the potential exists to reprocess spent nuclear fuel for further use in certain types of reactors. Nevertheless, high-level waste will still be produced which will eventually have to be disposed of and isolated from the environment. Therefore, even those countries that reprocess spent nuclear fuel (e.g. France) are building deep geological repositories. In addition, the responsibility to dispose of one's "own" waste is, in most states, including the Czech Republic, reflected in relevant legislation which prohibits the import and storage of radioactive waste and the export of such waste from other countries. Hence, it is essential that the Czech Republic constructs its own deep geological repository.

The deep geological repository will provide a facility in which high-level waste will be safely stored and isolated from the environment for hundreds of thousands of years thanks to the so-called multi-barrier system which is made up of a natural barrier (the rock mass which will remain stable for several million years) and technical (or engineered) barriers, e.g. the waste container.

The key to both the construction and long-term safety of the deep geological repository rests in the selection of the most suitable site. It is necessary that the various rock property requirements be fully met in addition to a number of other equally important conditions including local public acceptance, the technical potential for the construction of the complex surface area of the repository and accessibility. In order to ensure the safety of the repository, it will be necessary, from the geological point of view, to find a stable rock formation, determine its origin and evolution over tens to hundreds of millions of years and ascertain that the rock mass will maintain the desired geological properties for the required length of time.

The search for a suitable site for a deep geological repository commenced shortly after the commissioning of the first nuclear units at the Dukovany nuclear power plant, i.e. in the 1980s. In the 1990s the first study was conducted aimed at evaluating the potential of the geological conditions of the whole of the Czech Republic. At that time international research and experimentation began aimed at identifying the most appropriate materials and methods with concern to the construction of both the repository itself and the engineered barriers. Thanks to the multi-barrier system (a system of complementary natural and man-made barriers that completely prevents, or at least minimises, the escape of radionuclides for a period of hundreds of thousands of years), deep repositories represent the safest way in which to dispose of high-level radioactive waste.