ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

This Page:

• What is Radioactive Waste?
• Categories of Radioactive Waste
• Sources of Radioactive Waste in Australia
• Amount of Radioactive Waste in Australia
• Strategies of Radioactive Waste Management
• Disposal vs. Storage
• The Joint Convention on Radioactive Waste Safety
• Australia’s Legislative and Regulatory System
• Radioactive Waste Resources

What is Radioactive Waste?

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) defines radioactive waste as “material that contains or is contaminated with radionuclides at concentrations or radioactivity levels greater than clearance levels established by the appropriate authority and for which no use is foreseen” (Principles of Radioactive Waste Management, Safety Series No. 111-F [PDF, external website], IAEA, Vienna 1995).

Note that this definition is purely for regulatory purposes, and that material with activity concentrations equal to or less than clearance levels is radioactive from a physical viewpoint - although the associated radiological hazards are considered negligible.

The new international Safety Guide Application of the Concepts of Exclusion, Exemption and Clearance (RS-G-1.7 (PDF external website), IAEA, Vienna 2004) includes specific values of activity concentration for both radionuclides of natural origin and those of artificial origin that may be used for bulk amounts of material for the purpose of applying exclusion or exemption. It also elaborates on the possible application of these values to clearance.

The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) defines “waste” as any material that will be or has been discarded, being of no further use. Waste then includes effluents as well as solid materials such as process residues. Borderline cases include tailings from uranium mines which are usually treated as waste, although it is possible that some of them will be processed to recover some residual ore in the future. Until the decision to process is taken, the material remains a waste (ICRP Publication 77, 1997).

The ICRP goes on to state that “radioactive waste” is extremely difficult to specify, because everything is radioactive. The specification of that part of waste that is to be treated as radioactive depends on the existence of definitions of what is to be excluded or exempt from the scope of the relevant regulations.

Categories of Radioactive Waste

In Australia, there is currently no grand unified classification system for radioactive waste. However, for practical purposes radioactive waste is classified into five different categories, Very Low Level, A, B, C and S. The latter four categories are defined in the Code of practice for the near surface disposal of radioactive waste in Australia (1992)(PDF, 327kb) (pp.14, 15).

Very Low Level Radioactive Wastecan be disposed of by the user under the Code of practice for the disposal of radioactive wastes by the user (1985) (PDF, 218kb). Such waste is defined as having radioactivity content greater than for exempt waste but less than the upper limit specified in the user disposal code. Solid waste, particularly short-lived waste, can be disposed to approved landfill not specifically intended for radioactive waste. The user disposal code also controls discharges of liquid waste to the environment and gaseous waste to the air.

This class of waste is aimed at users of small quantities of radioactive materials. Thus, this class of waste does not cover bulk materials.

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Category Acovers solid radioactive waste with mainly beta- or gamma-emitting radionuclides of short half-life. This category of waste will generally comprise lightly contaminated items such as paper, cardboard, plastics, rags, protective clothing, glassware, laboratory trash or equipment, certain consumer products and industrial tools or equipment. It may also comprise lightly contaminated bulk waste from mineral processing or lightly contaminated soils.

Category B covers solid waste and shielded sources with considerably higher activities
of beta- or gamma-emitting radionuclides than Category A waste. Long-lived alpha-emitting radionuclides should be at relatively low levels. This category of waste typically comprises gauges and sealed sources used in industry, medical diagnostic and therapeutic sources or devices, and small items of contaminated equipment.

Category C covers solid waste containing alpha-, beta- or gamma-emitting radionuclides with activity concentrations similar to those for Category B. However, this waste typically will comprise bulk materials, such as those arising from downstream processing of radioactive minerals, significantly contaminated soils, or large individual items of contaminated plant or equipment for which conditioning would prove to be impractical.

Category S covers waste that does not meet the specifications of Categories A, B or C. Typically this category will comprise sealed sources, gauges or bulk waste which contains radionuclides at higher concentrations than are allowable under Categories A, B or C. Waste within Category S is unacceptable for near-surface disposal and must be retained in storage until an alternative disposal method is available.

A summary of the IAEA international scheme of radioactive waste classification (PDF external website) is given in the Table.

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Table. Summary of the IAEA Classification of Radioactive Waste

Waste Type	Definition
Exempt waste	Activity levels at or below clearance levels
Low Level waste	Activity levels above clearance levels. Contains enough radioactive material to require action for the protection of people, but not so much that it requires shielding in handling, storage or transportation.
Short-lived Intermediate Level Waste	Waste that requires shielding, but needs little or no provision for heat dissipation, and contains low concentrations of long-lived radionuclides* (less than 4000 Bq/g of alpha emitters). Radionuclides generally have a half-life of less than 30 years.
Long-lived Intermediate Level Waste	Waste that requires shielding, but needs little or no provision for heat dissipation. Concentrations of long-lived radionuclides (which generally have a half-life of greater than 30 years) exceed limitations for short lived waste.
High Level Waste	Waste which contains large concentrations of both short and long-lived radioactive nuclides, and is sufficiently radioactive to require both shielding and cooling. It generates more than two kilowatts per cubic metre of heat.

Radioactive waste classified as Category A, B or C under the Australian scheme is low level or short-lived intermediate level radioactive waste, according to the IAEA classifications. Category S waste is analogous to long-lived intermediate level radioactive waste.

Sources of Radioactive Waste in Australia

Radioactive waste in Australia is generated by research, industry, medical applications, research reactor operation (at ANSTO, Lucas Heights) and radiopharmaceutical production. Australia is developing an integrated waste management strategy for the long-term management of this radioactive waste. For radioactive waste produced by Australian Government agencies, Australia is establishing a near-surface repository for disposal of low level and short-lived intermediate level radioactive waste, and a store for the storage of intermediate level radioactive waste. Australia has no nuclear power plants. Current policy requires that each state and territory is responsible for the management of radioactive waste generated within their jurisdictions.

The mining of uranium in Australia produces large quantities of wastes containing elevated levels of naturally-occurring radionuclides. Two uranium mines now operating produce about 10 million tonnes of uranium mill tailings a year (Olympic Dam mine 9.1 Mt in 2001, Ranger mine 1.8 Mt in 2000/01) and these tailings are managed at the mine sites. At the Olympic Dam mine in SA, the coarse fraction of tailings is used underground as backfill, and the fine tailings material still containing potentially valuable minerals (rare earths, etc.) is emplaced in tailings dams. At the Ranger mine in NT, tailings were emplaced in an engineered dam on the lease until 1996, but are now all deposited into a worked-out pit. Although uranium mill tailings are controlled by different regulations, the requirements for their disposal are consistent with criteria for near-surface disposal of radioactive wastes. More details of past and present waste-management practices are found in the paper “Rehabilitation of Uranium Mine Waste Sites in Australia” (PDF 92kb) or (RTF 57kb).

Technologically-enhanced naturally-occurring radioactive materials (NORM) are also produced by mineral sands operations, tantalum mining, tin and copper smelting, alumina production and in fossil-fuel use including scale from oil and gas production. In general, mining wastes are dealt with at the mine sites and are regulated under mining regulations.

There are currently two nuclear facilities being decommissioned in Australia, and the status of the decommissioning activities is as follows.

The 100 kW research reactor Moata was shut down in May 1995, and the fuel, the cooling system and electric systems removed. A decommissioning plan has been prepared and agreed to by the regulator. Timing of dismantling has not been decided.

The 10 MW research reactor HIFAR will be shut down in 2006. The decommissioning proposal is based on removal of the fuel and heavy water followed by 30 years care and maintenance before decommissioning. The decommissioning process will be regulated by ARPANSA.

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Amount of Radioactive Waste in Australia

Australia has about 3,500 m³ of low level and short-lived intermediate level radioactive waste considered suitable for disposal in a near-surface repository. This includes some 2000 m³ of soil lightly contaminated with uranium mill tailings, laboratory waste from research, production of radiopharmaceuticals and research reactor operation, solid residues from the treatment of low level liquid waste, contaminated items such as paper, cardboard, plastic, rags, protective clothing, and some gauges and sealed sources. The low level and short-lived intermediate level waste is currently stored at over 100 locations around the country. The annual generation rate of low and short-lived intermediate level radioactive waste suitable for disposal in a repository is about 40 m³ per year.

A summary of the amounts and types of radioactive waste held by various agencies in Australia is given on the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) website. Further details are available in the Australian report to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management.

Strategies of Radioactive Waste Management

Radioactive waste management” is used in two senses. In the first place, it means the process for disposing of waste in a way that safeguards the environment and the health of the public. In this sense, radioactive waste management is a tool of public health control and for applying the ICRP policy on public exposure to the area of waste disposal. Secondly, it can mean the whole sequence of operations starting with the generation of waste, passing through storage, and ending with disposal. In this sense, it is analogous to any set of operations, such as fuel fabrication or the practice of nuclear medicine and the ICRP recommendations apply to it as to any practice (ICRP Publication 77, 1997).

Whereas “waste storage” is the temporary retention of a waste, “waste disposal” is the discarding of the waste with no intention of retrieval. Thus disposal includes the discharge of effluents. For solid waste, the difference between long-term storage and disposal lies in the presence or absence of the intention of retrieval (and not the potential for retrieval).

Means of disposal of radioactive waste include retention in repositories or release to the environment. These two waste disposal strategies can be labelled Concentrate and Retain, and Dilute and Disperse. Often disposal involves a combination of these two methods. Potentially both means of disposal can cause exposure to members of the public.

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Disposal vs. Storage

Due to the delays experienced in many countries in developing radioactive waste disposal facilities, waste has to be stored for increasingly longer periods. Some countries are also considering extended storage as an alternative to disposal. The sustainability of such an option has been seriously questioned by the international community, and resulted in the issue being featured in the IAEA Waste Safety Action Plan (2003).

The IAEA has held a number of meetings to debate this issue widely, the result being to recognise that while indefinite storage is not a sustainable option, nevertheless storage is a necessary phase in safely managing most types of radioactive waste. Thus there is a requirement to improve the safety of waste prior to disposal and in particular for extended storage in facilities that are beyond design lifetimes. There are also growing security concerns over long-term surface storage and again the need was emphasised to address physical security threats within the overall safety assessment process. It is clear that safety assessment of predisposal management activities needs appropriate and valid methodologies. An international project on Safety Assessment Driving Radioactive Waste Management Solutions (SADRWMS) has begun to examine the application of safety assessment methodology to predisposal waste management practices and facilities including waste storage.

Managing Australia’s Radioactive Waste

The current Commonwealth policy for managing Australia’s radioactive waste can be found on the
DEST website.

There are currently three national codes for regulating radioactive waste management. These are conversationally referred to as the user disposal code, the near-surface disposal code, and the mining code.

The Code of practice for the disposal of radioactive wastes by the user (1985) (PDF, 218kb) provides for small amounts of low-level solid radioactive waste below defined limits, including that containing uranium or thorium, to be disposed of by the user to an urban land-fill waste tip. Gaseous or liquid wastes below specified limits may be discharged into the air or to the sewerage system in accordance with provisions of the code. This code is currently under revision.

The Code of practice for the near surface disposal of radioactive waste in Australia (1992) (PDF, 327kb) provides the basis for the near-surface disposal of solid radioactive waste that has been classified as low-level and short-lived intermediate-level waste. The code is intended to apply to disposal of contaminated plant and equipment resulting from handling or processing of naturally-occurring materials which contain radioactive contaminants in low but non-trivial amounts, and to waste arising from processing of minerals remote from any mine site and where disposal at the mine site is inappropriate. The code also applies to disposal of waste arising from the rehabilitation, decontamination or decommissioning of sites or facilities where radioactive materials have been produced, stored, used or dispersed. The code establishes the requirements for site selection, design criteria and operational requirements for either a national near-surface disposal facility or for a purpose-built land-fill disposal trench.

A new Code of Practice and Safety Guide Radiation Protection and Radioactive Waste Management in Mining and Mineral Processing will shortly be available. The purpose of this Code and Safety Guide is to provide a uniform framework for radiation protection in the mining and mineral processing industries, and for the safe management of radioactive waste arising from mining and mineral processing.

It is expected that radioactive waste arising from mining operations will generally be regulated within the framework of the mining code. This applies particularly to on-site disposal of bulk waste from the mining and mineral processing industries. However, waste arising from handling naturally-occurring materials which contains low levels of radioactive contaminants, particularly smaller quantities (eg. equipment from the oil and gas industries or from the fertiliser industry containing radioactive scale) may be managed on-site under the provisions of the mining code or disposed in accordance with the requirements of the near-surface disposal code.

A new national code is being developed to cover the treatment, conditioning, packaging, storage, and transport of radioactive waste. Specifically, the anticipated Code of practice for the pre-disposal management of radioactive waste will provide requirements for conditioning and storage of solid and liquid radioactive waste including that categorised as long-lived intermediate-level waste.

The Joint Convention on Radioactive Waste Safety

The UN Joint Convention on The Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management was ratified by Australia in August 2003.

The Joint Convention applies to spent fuel and radioactive waste resulting from civilian nuclear reactors and to spent fuel and radioactive waste from military or defence programmes if and when such materials are transferred permanently to and managed within exclusively civilian programmes, or when declared as spent fuel or radioactive waste for the purpose of the Convention by the Contracting Party. The Convention also applies to planned and controlled releases into the environment of liquid or gaseous radioactive materials from regulated nuclear facilities.

Wastes from the mining and milling of uranium ores are subject to the Joint Convention. However, the Convention does not apply to waste that contains only naturally-occurring radioactive materials and that does not originate from the nuclear fuel cycle, unless it is declared as radioactive waste for the purposes of the Convention by the Contracting Party. Wastes containing only naturally-occurring radioactive materials that do not originate from the nuclear fuel cycle have not been declared as radioactive waste by Australia for the purposes of the Convention.

Further detail can be found in Australia's National Reports to the Joint Convention

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Australia’s Legislative and Regulatory System

Australia has a federal system of government and the regulation of radioactive waste management and disposal comes under both Commonwealth (federal) and State/Territory regulation.

Nuclear activities and uses of radiation and radioactivity by federal agencies are regulated by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA). This includes regulating the management and storage of radioactive waste at federal agencies such as the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), the Commonwealth Science Industry and Research Organisation (CSIRO), and Department of Defence.

In the States and Territories, the use of radiation and radioactivity is regulated by Environmental Protection Authorities and Health Departments in each state unless it arises from the activities of a Commonwealth agency, in which case it is regulated by ARPANSA.

ARPANSA is also tasked with promoting uniformity of radiation protection and nuclear safety policy and practices (including radioactive waste management) across all jurisdictions (Commonwealth, the States and Territories).

In terms of the Joint Convention, there are nine jurisdictions (federal, state and territories) that have to be considered. The legislative and regulatory requirements of these jurisdictions with respect to management of spent fuel and radioactive waste are not identical. Accordingly, in the Australian National Report to the Joint Convention, the similarities and differences are detailed. As Australia has no nuclear power reactors and only one operational research reactor, this simplifies the situation with respect to spent fuel management as the federal jurisdiction is the only one with such responsibility.

Radioactive Waste Resources

The internet provides access to a wide range of resources on radioactive waste management. One of the most comprehensive sites is the privately-maintained RadWaste.org database with links to a vast range of radioactive waste-related material on the internet.

The IAEA site for the Waste Safety Standards Committee (WASSC) provides links to current international safety standards and information on recent developments in radioactive waste safety.

Various national authorities maintain comprehensive sites with general as well as country-specific information on radioactive waste management. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is a good place to find information relating to the regulation of radioactive waste in the US. The US Department of Energy also maintains a comprehensive site including information on the proposed Yucca Mountain waste repository and on waste acceptance and transportation.

A good overview of the UK situation is available on the Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) website.

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