Nuclear energy production is accompanied by the production of various radioactive wastes:

• fission products

• activation products due to neutron captures by nuclei belonging to the structure of the reactor, such as, for example, cobalt 60

• transuranic nuclei due to neutron captures by the nuclear fuel.

Nuclear wastes are characterized by their radiotoxicity and their half­life. Only wastes with half-lives exceeding ten years are associated with significant storage problems. These are essentially some fission products (LLFP) and transuranic elements. Their noxiousness is, traditionally, measured by their ingestion radiotoxicity.