SA mulls nuclear waste options
2005-05-26 09:07
Cape Town - In the future, South Africa's high-level nuclear waste will either be stored in deep underground repositories or sent abroad for reprocessing, members of parliament's minerals and energy portfolio committee heard on Wednesday.
The minerals and energy department's chief director of nuclear matters, Tseliso Maqubela, told MPs the development of a national policy to deal with radioactive waste, currently under way, was "a complex undertaking".
However, "we believe radioactive waste can be managed safely in this country", he said.
The focus of the department was on high-level rather than low and intermediate-level waste, which "is not an issue... because there is a disposal facility for this at Vaalputs".
Overseen by the National Nuclear Regulator, the Vaalputs radioactive waste disposal facility in the Northern Cape is used for the storage of low and intermediate-level waste.
Maqubela said government's draft policy on nuclear waste management listed three options for the management of high-level nuclear waste. These included above ground interim storage; deep geological disposal; and "reprocessing, conditioning and recycling".
Although the cheapest option, the first option was not favoured because it did not offer a permanent solution, and was at odds with the policy principle of not placing a burden on future generations.
Should deep geological disposal be chosen, South African mining experience would come in handy.
Maqubela said such deep storage was the most accepted option worldwide, but admitted that in many cases people didn't want it in "my backyard".
Spent reactor fuel rods
There were also major challenges around choosing a site.
On the option of reprocessing waste - extracting the uranium and plutonium from spent reactor fuel rods - he said this would mean transporting the fuel to another country, such as the United Kingdom, Japan or France, which had the facilities to do this.
Speaking to Sapa after the briefing, Maqubela ruled out the building of a nuclear waste reprocessing facility in South Africa, saying this was often construed as "a recipe for other things".
South Africa was likely to pursue a dual approach to its high-level waste, storing some locally as well as sending some overseas for reprocessing.
Asked if a deep storage facility was built locally, government would allow other countries to ship their nuclear waste here for storage, he said: "Never - certainly as far as (the department) is concerned."
Currently, about 95% of South Africa's high-level nuclear waste comes from the Koeberg nuclear power station in the Western Cape. It is all stored at the facility.
In her budget vote speech last week, Minerals and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told the national assembly nuclear energy in South Africa was "here to stay".
Commenting on the country's abundance of uranium, she said this would be used "to support our growing nuclear industry".
- SAPA