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An overview of radionuclide behaviour research for the UK geological disposal programme

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

S. Vines  and
R. Beard
S. Vines*
Affiliation:
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Radioactive Waste Management Directorate, NDA Harwell Office, Building 587, Curie Avenue, Harwell, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0RH, UK
R. Beard
Affiliation:
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Radioactive Waste Management Directorate, NDA Harwell Office, Building 587, Curie Avenue, Harwell, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0RH, UK
*
*E-mail: sarah.vines@nda.gov.uk
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Abstract

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In the UK, radioactive wastes currently planned for disposal in a geological disposal facility (GDF) are intermediate-level waste, some low-level waste and high-level waste. Disposal of other materials, including spent fuel, separated uranium and separated plutonium are also included in the planning of a GDF, if such materials are classified as wastes in the future. This paper gives an overview of the radionuclide behaviour research studies of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Radioactive Waste Management Directorate (NDA RWMD). The NDA RWMD's current understanding of the processes that control radionuclide behaviour in groundwater and how the engineered and natural barriers in a GDF would contain radionuclides is presented. Areas requiring further work are also identified.

Keywords

solubilitysorptioncomplexationresearch and development
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 76 , Issue 8 , December 2012 , pp. 3373 - 3380
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
© [2012] The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2012

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