Waste management policies and facilities

The shallow permanent waste repository at Dukovany is intended primarily for LLW and ILW from nuclear energy. The total capacity is about 55,000 m³ and by the end of 2016, around 11,500 m³ of waste had been deposited here.294

The estimated total amount of low-level and intermediate-level waste produced by both Czech nuclear power plants (during a 60-year lifetime) is 18,300 m³. Another 10,800 m³ will be produced during the decommissioning process of both plants.

In addition to nuclear waste from operation of power plants, the Czech Republic also has relevant amounts of waste from uranium mining. The state-owned DIAMO enterprise administers 18 tailings ponds filled with radioactive sludge covering an area of almost 600 hectares and with a total volume of 54 million m³. The firm is also responsible for 371 waste heaps with a total volume of 49 million m³ of materials containing residual uranium ore.295

WASTE MANAGEMENT POLICIES AND FACILITIES

The 1997 Act on Peaceful Utilization of Nuclear Energy and Ionizing Radiation (also known as the Atomic Act) serves as the legal framework for nuclear waste management in the Czech Republic. It established the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (RAWRA), a government agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade. RAWRA is responsible for managing nuclear waste including the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel.

The State Office for Nuclear Safety is responsible for supervising nuclear safety including repositories, as defined in the 2016 Atomic Act.296 It maintains the main principles of the preceding act, but in addition requires a further law for selecting the site for a deep geological depository. No such law has yet been adopted.

In 2002, the Czech government adopted the Policy for Spent Nuclear Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management, despite objections from the Ministry of the Environment based on a Strategic Environmental Assessment. The policy defines the principles of nuclear waste management and establishes timeframes. The government updated the policy in 2017.297 Public consultation was limited.

Spent nuclear fuel is stored in dry casks at nuclear power plants under the responsibility of ČEZ, the company that produced it. Once it is declared as waste, it falls under the authority of RAWRA. RAWRA operates the repositories at Dukovany, Litoměřice and Jáchymov (last two for non-power waste). Plans exist for a central subterranean spent nuclear fuel storage at the Skalka site, but they are considered outdated by now. Spent fuel is not expected to be reprocessed for both economic and technological reasons.

In 2002, RAWRA selected six granite sites potentially suitable for deep repositories as proposed by the Czech Geological Survey. Inspiration for this project was drawn from Swedish KBS-3 technology for disposal of spent nuclear fuel at a depth of 500 meters in encapsulated canisters buried in bentonite

294 Czech Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (RAWRA) Website n.d., “About repositories”, viewed 29 May 2019, https://www.surao.cz/en/public/operational-repositories/about-repositories/ 295 DIAMO 2018, “Comprehensive Information about Monitoring Results and the State of the Environment”, 20 April, viewed 18 May 2019, https://www.diamo.cz/en 296 More information about the Atomic Act at https://www.sujb.cz/en/legal-framework/new-nuclear-law/ 297 Government of the Czech Republic 2017, Policy for Spent Nuclear Fuel and Radioactive Waste Management in the Czech Republic, adopted 29 November.