The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) has detected greater-than-class-C (GTCC) nuclear waste at the nuclear-waste storage facility on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) in Taitung County, despite the facility being designed for only low-radioactive materials, raising questions over the management of nuclear waste.
The council originally ordered Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) to introduce new rules on nuclear-waste classification by the end of last year, after it discovered the GTCC nuclear waste on the outlying island.
However, Taipower has failed to meet the deadline due to technical difficulties in compiling a nuclear-waste inventory, so the deadline has been extended, the council said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
According to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission classification system, nuclear waste with a concentration of cesium-137 or strontium-90 greater than 4,600 and 7,000 curies per cubic meter respectively, or with a concentration of nickel-63 greater than 700 curies per cubic meter, is considered GTCC waste.
Citing a report by the Institute of Energy Research, Yang Mu-huo (楊木火), adviser to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀), said GTCC waste is mainly made up of components of decommissioned nuclear reactors and resins derived during the maintenance of nuclear power plants.
Class B nuclear waste is required to be stored in containers for 300 years, while class C waste needs to be stored for 500 years. GTCC waste is generally unacceptable for near-ground storage and requires a special disposal plan, the report shows.
Yang questioned why storage canisters designed for storage of up to 100 years had been used for the waste on Orchid Island and why authorities did not propose a special disposal plan for the GTCC materials, which he said might have contributed to Taipower’s delay.
In response, AEC Fuel Cycle and Materials Administration Director-General Shao Yau-tsu (紹耀祖) said GTCC waste is derived from units inside nuclear reactor cores that react with photons and exists at all three operational nuclear power plants in the nation, as well as the disposal site on Orchid Island.
He said that GTCC materials amount to less than 1 percent of the nation’s overall low-level nuclear waste and that its radioactive level should not be an issue of concern.
He said that the problem of GTCC disposal would come to the fore when the nation’s deep geological repository comes into use, as the nuclear waste on Orchid Island is being stored temporarily, and that the council ordered Taipower to propose a new classification system as a pre-emptive move for the final storage of nuclear waste.
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