In Spain, the definition of radioactive waste is established in article 2 of Law 25/1964, from 29th April, about nuclear energy (LEN) as follows: "Radioactive waste is any material or waste product, for which there is no expected use, that contains or is contaminated with radionuclides in concentrations or levels of activity over those established by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographical Challenge, with a previous report of the Nuclear Safety Council (CSN)”.
According to article 6.c) of Royal Decree 102/2014, among the contents of the GRWP there must be “An inventory of all spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, as well as estimates of future amounts, including from decommissioning. This inventory shall clearly indicate the siting and amount of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, according to a classification that takes into account the final management scheduled for it”. Thus, the final management route is key in the classification of radioactive waste. Although there are many types of radioactive wastes, these wastes are categorized in Spain according to the management facilities authorized for a volume, radiological inventory and specific activity concentration limits, depending on the nature of the different radionuclides present. These categories are:
Radioactive waste classification
Low and Intermediate Level Waste, short-life (LILW):
Those whose activity is mainly due to the presence of radionuclides beta-gamma emitters, with a short-medium disintegration period (below 30 years) and whose content in long-life radionuclides is very low and limited. This group integrates wastes that can be temporary stored, treated, conditioned and finally disposed of in the disposal facility for LILW in El Cabril (C.A. El Cabril), in the province of Córdoba, including the subgroup of Very Low Level Waste (VLLW). Enresa is the operator of this disposal facility.
Special Waste (SW)
This includes the attachments of nuclear fuel, neutronic sources, used intranuclear instrumentation or replaced components from the reactor vessel system and internal components from the reactor, generally metallic, that present a high radiation dose from the neutronic activation, and all those wastes that, according to their radiological characteristics, cannot be disposed of in the existing Surface Disposal Facility in Spain, C.A. El Cabril [Instruction IS-29 of CSN]. Their management is associated to High Level Waste.
High Level Waste (HLW)
Those that have significant concentrations of long-life alpha emitters and beta-gamma emitters and generate heat in a significant way. This category includes the spent fuel discharged from nuclear reactors (PWR and BWR type), once decided it is not going to be reprocessed, and the vitrified waste produced in the reprocessing activities which took place in the past for some amounts of spent fuel [Instruction IS-29 of CSN].
Did you know?
Radioactive isotopes tend to become stable elements, that is, they lose their radioactivity. The time a radioactive substance takes to reduce its activity to the half is called "semidesintegration period".
Origin of the radioactive wastes in Spain
The following map shows the main radioactive waste producers in Spain.
La Coruña: 26 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Lugo: 4 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Pontevedra: 13 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Ourense: 0 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Asturias: 32 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Cantabria: 16 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Vizcaya: 46 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Decommissioned research reactor
Guipuzcoa: 18 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Alava: 19 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Navarra: 20 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
La Rioja: 4 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Huesca: 4 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Zaragoza: 28 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Teruel: 4 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Lleida: 9 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
NPP Ascó I y II
NPP Ascó I y II
Girona: 10 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Barcelona: 138 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Decommissioned research reactor
Tarragona: 16 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
NPP Vandellós I
NPP Vandellós II
León: 5 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
NPP Santa Mª de Garoña
Palencia: 1 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Burgos: 9 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Soria: 2 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Zamora: 2 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Valladolid: 14 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
">Nuclear fuel manufacturing facility "Juzbado" (Salamanca)
Salamanca: 9 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Ávila: 0 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Segovia: 0 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Uranium mills closured in Saelices el Chico
Research centre
Madrid: 190 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Cáceres: 3 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
NPP Almaráz I y II
NPP Almaráz I y II
Badajoz: 7 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Uranium mills closured in La Haba
Guadalajara: 4 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
NPP Trillo
NPP José Cabrera
Cuenca: 1 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Toledo: 9 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Ciudad Real: 6 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Albacete: 3 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Castellón: 5 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Valencia: 52 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
NPP Cofrentes
Alicante: 21 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
El Cabril Disposal Facility for LILW and VLLW
Uranium mills closured in Andújar
Huelva: 8 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Sevilla: 46 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Córdoba: 10 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Jaén: 9 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Cádiz: 19 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Málaga: 10 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Granada: 20 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Almería: 7 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Murcia: 14 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Santa Cruz: 18 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Las Palmas: 11 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Baleares: 12 Radioactive facilities with technical specifications suscribed as at 2018/12/31.
Main producers of radioactive wastes. Currently, there are 7 reactors in operation, in 5 sites: Almaraz I and II (Cáceres), Cofrentes (Valencia), Vandellós II and Ascó I and II (Tarragona), Trillo (Guadalajara).
- José Cabrera Nuclear Power Plant (Guadalajara), currently in the dismantling and decommissioning phase.
- Vandellós I Nuclear Power Plant (Tarragona), currently in the latency phase after its partial dismantling.
Santa María de Garoña NPP (Burgos), which will undergo in a near future its dismantling process.
Reactor JEN-1 (CIEMAT, Madrid), Argos (Barcelona) and Arbi (Bilbao). These research reactors are currently dismantled, and their associated wastes have been sent to C.A. El Cabril.
Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), in Madrid, has a series of radioactive facilities in operation and a series of nuclear facilities already dismantled.
Nuclear fuel manufacturing facility “Juzbado” (Salamanca), where oxide uranium fuel elements for NPP reactors are manufactured.
Uranium mills, already closured and located in Andújar (Jaén), La Haba (Badajoz) and Saelices el Chico (Salamanca).
El Cabril is the Spanish disposal facility for very low, low and intermediate lever radioactive waste. It is located within the minucipal area of Hornachuelos (Córdoba).
We consider those facilities located all over the national territory that have technical-administrative specifications signed with Enresa at inventory date. According to Royal Decree 1836/1999, of 3rd December, radioactive facilities are defined as:
- Any kind of facilities that have an ionizing radiation source.
- Devices that produce ionizing radiation working with a potential difference over 5 kilovolts.
- Locations, laboratories, factories and facilities that produce, use, own, treat, manipulate or store radioactive materials, except disposal facilities.
National Inventory
According to article 38 bis of the Law 25/1964, from 29th April, on Nuclear Energy (LEN), radioactive waste management in Spain, including spent fuel, and decommissioning, dismantling and closure of nuclear sites, is categorized as an essential public service entrusted to the State, being this responsibility submitted to Empresa Nacional de Residuos Radiactivos, S.A. S.M.E. (Enresa), according to the General Radioactive Waste Plan (GRWP) approved by the Government. Currently, the 6th Radioactive Waste Plan approved in 2006, is in force.
Additionally, Royal Decree 102/2014, from 21st February, for a safe and responsible management of the nuclear spent fuel and the radioactive wastes, sets in its article 9, as one of Enresa’s responsibilities, the preparation and management of the National Inventory for Spent Fuel and Radioactive Wastes, which shall include wastes and spent fuel definitively disposed of, after the closure of the installation where they are allocated.
This is the reason why, in 2014, Enresa began working in a new National Inventory for Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste, closed as at 31st December 2015. Since its creation in 1984, Enresa has developed an inventory of radioactive wastes in Spain, with the data received from all waste producers. Since then, there has been a close cooperation and an improvement on the detailed knowledge of the situation, which has allowed the elaboration of more precise strategies and management programmes.
The National Inventory is based on a series of reports, which reflect both the origin of the radioactive wastes and spent fuel, and the hypothesis considered to reach the final values for the expected wastes, according to the established uncertainties.
In the interest of transparency, Enresa acknowledges the importance of having the national inventory data publicly available in a simple and accessible way for the population.
Inventory of 31st December 2018
Within the inventory data, it is interesting to know the origin of the data and the way the information is generated.
Origin of the data for wastes generated at one date
The data for elaborating the Inventory come, mainly, from the producers of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive wastes. Enresa receives the information according to the technical-administrative specifications for accepting nuclear spent fuel and radioactive wastes, as required in article 11 of Royal Decree 102/2014.
Know moreAnnually, nuclear power plants in operation prepare a preliminary program of waste generation during operation that includes:
- Number of waste packages for each waste stream to be produced in the next 5 years of operation, and those produced during the previous year.
- Estimates of fuel elements to be discharged in the next 10 years of operation, and the spent fuel elements generated during the previous year.
All this information sent by the waste producers is included in the Data Bases developed by Enresa to control the inventory of wastes.
In the case of wastes coming from the dismantling of nuclear power plants and other facilities, Enresa, as the company responsible of these projects (up to now in Vandellós I, PIMIC/CIEMAT and José Cabrera), has developed specific management systems in order to control the materials and wastes generated and their subsequent management. In case they are finally managed as radioactive waste, this information is turned over in the Data Bases already mentioned.
In terms of future estimates for the dismantling of Spanish nuclear facilities, Enresa has developed some studies to be able to make some forecasts on quantities, typologies and uncertainties.
For radioactive facilities, the technical-administrative specifications include the obligation of the owner to inform Enresa about the estimates of radioactive waste generation and the possible changes that may occur. For other facilities, future previsions are done from the basis of the previous experience.
Inventory of wastes generated as of 31st December 2018
The inventory of wastes generated as of 31st December 2018, is reflected in the following table:
Wastes generated are classified as LILW, VLLW, SW and HLW and SF. By 31st December 2018, a total volume of 70257 m3 has been generated, mainly low and intermediate level wastes and very low level wastes.
From the total amount of LILW and VLLW generated, some of them are already disposed in the vaults of C.A. El Cabril, others are temporary stored in that facility, and some others are still in the producers’ facilities. The graphics below show the distribution of this type of wastes according to their location:
Additionally, this is the amount, at inventory date, of VLLW and LILW disposed in vaults or structures of C.A. El Cabril facility, counted on primary waste packages received on site:
Regarding the fuel elements generated, although for the national inventory the occupational volume is estimated in m3, it is interesting to know the number of total fuel elements generated, and the corresponding uranium tones:
Spent Fuel Characteristics
Nuclear fuel consists of a series of cylindrical ceramic pellets of uranium oxide, whose U-238 is enriched to a variable degree (up to 5%) with U-235. These are encased in zirconium alloy tubes to create fuel rods, which are arranged into a structure to form the fuel assembly.
Since it is in the reactor, the uranium and other radionuclides generated are subject to neutron capture and nuclear fission reactions, resulting in fission products, activation products and the generation of plutonium and minor actinides. The composition of these products includes virtually every element of the periodic table.
Quantities and characteristics of the components of the irradiated fuel depend on its initial U-235 enrichment, its degree of burnup and the operation of the reactor.
Expected generation
In order to estimate the future generation, a series of hypothesis and the reference scenario considered in the General Radioactive Waste Plan must be taken into account.
Reference Scenario
- Open Fuel Cycle; that is, the reprocessing option for spent fuel is not considered.
- Lifetime of NPPs in operation, with a working rhythm similar to the current one, according to the following reference scenario for the cessation of operation:
The 7 reactors that are still in operation began working between September 1983 and August 1988. According to the foreseen dates for ceasing their operation, Almaraz I will be the first reactor ceasing, in November 2027, and the last reactor ceasing its opertion will be Trillo, in May 2035
- To make the calculation for dismantling wastes, we consider 10 years for the dismantling of each NPP, except for Vandellós I where 15 years are considered.
- Total dismantling of the NPPs that are currently in operation, to begin 3 years after their definitive shutdown.
- The period between the definitive shutdown and the beginning of the dismantling is included in the operational phase for the purposes of waste generation.
- In the case of radioactive facilities, the estimate for waste generation is elaborated according to the waste treatment done in C.A. El Cabril.
- The prevision of wastes to be managed coming from expected facilities for spent fuel, HLW and SW management, as the Centralised Interim Storage Facility (CTS) and the Deep Geological Repository (DGR) is also considered.
Hypothesis
Know moreHypothesis to calculate estimates in operational phase
- Estimates proposed for the annual generation are done according to the NPPs yearly previsions of generation for the next five years.
- The estimate for VLLW and LILW is calculated considering the volume of the waste, once conditioned for its final management in C.A. El Cabril.
- In the case of final disposal for spent fuel, we have considered for its quantification ATC’s containers (UMR).
- For special wastes, their final disposal is considered to be done in CTS’s containers (UMR) or in capsules similar to the ones used in José Cabrera NPP dismantling (GWC).
- For all streams and types of waste, a range of uncertainties are considered: 15% for VLLW/LILW, 50% for SW, between 10 and 30 elements for spent fuel.
Hypothesis to calculate estimations in dismantling phase
- For NPPs PWR type (Ascó I and II, Almaraz I and II, Vandellós II, Trillo), very similar in their designs, the amount of wastes to be generated is defined in a detailed study developed for Vandellós II NPP.
- According to the operational experience of José Cabrera’s dismantling, for other NPP’s dismantling projects we make an estimate of the secondary wastes generation (compactable material, ventilation filters, etc.), of the volume of special waste expected to be managed, of the rejected material from the releasing process (radioactive material that, after its measure, does not comply with the criteria defined and approved by the CSN for releasing), and also of the conditioning of the wastes according to the type and container.
- In the case of concrete, we consider the scarification treatment that will be applied to contaminated surfaces, depending on its radiological classification.
- For contaminated soils we use as a reference the estimate done for José Cabrera NPP, considering between 30-60% as VLLW and the rest as releasing material.
- For each NPP we get a maximum and a minimum inventory, depending on the uncertainties, which depends on the type of NPP, on the percentage of decontaminated soils, on the amount of secondary wastes generated and on the filling percentage of the final containers corresponding to each type of waste.
Total inventory at 31st December 2018
Considering all the uncertainties and hypothesis previously explained, estimates of the inventory for each type of waste, are shown below:
At 31/12/18 the total inventory is estimated between 258800 m3 and 213800m3; between 140400 y 106500 m3 of them are VLLW, and between 101700 and 91200 m3 are LILW. The rest correspond to SW and SF and HLW.
This implies that, at inventory date, 30% of the radioactive wastes expected are already generated. According to the estimates of the total inventory, considering the average value, the distribution related to the type of waste is as follows:
According to the average value for the total inventory (236300 m3), 64255 m3 come from the operation of the NPPs, 133955 m3 from the dismantling of NPPS, 1015 m3 from the nuclear fuel manufacturing facility “Juzbado” and 37075 m3 from CIEMAT, Cabril, CTS, DGR and others.
NPPs in operation generate all type of wastes, being most of them LILW 42650 m3, 11065 m3 VLLW, 10350 m3 HLW and SF and a small amount of SW 190 m3. During the dismantling of NPPs the biggest volume of VLLW is generated 86825 m3, but they also generate 46480 m3 of LILW and 650 m3 of SW. Juzbado only generates VLLW 885 m3 and LILW 130 m3. CIEMAT, Cabril, CTS, DGR and others mainly generate VLLW 24675 m3, but they also generate some LILW 7190 m3 and SW 5210 m3.