Energy Science & Power Generation Technology

The accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station has produced and will continue to produce various types and large amounts of waste contaminated by radionuclides. The literature and published internet information on possible types of waste produced are reviewed from the viewpoint of their characteristics. Issues associated with the waste were selected and analyzed for each stage of the future waste management, considering the characteristics and properties of the waste obtained so far. The stages considered are current (temporary) storage, processing including decontamination and solidification/packaging, storage up to disposal, transportation, and disposal. The issues that should be considered in the safe disposal of waste were extracted as basic information to be used to establish a research and development roadmap. Also the possible resolution of some issues was examined from the experiences of national radioactive waste management and major accidents around the world, i.e., the Three Mile Island Unit 2 accident and the Chernobyl accident. The basic technical information and knowledge in the review are given in the hope that it will promote and facilitate the research and development of radioactive waste processing and disposal methods.