Sealed spent radioactive sources are currently held in the provincial nuclear waste storage facilities, in the centralized sealed source storage facility, or at the user’s premises. These radioactive sources have not been conditioned into a stable form, so they occupy large volumes of storage space and pose high potential risk. China is making an effort to establish an R&D base to develop radioactive source conditioning technology as soon as possible for the purpose of improving the safety of radioactive source storage. At the same time, China is exploring options for disposal of spent radioactive sources; it is expected to seek a long-term solution for spent radioactive sources. To meet the need for application of radioactive sources, since the 1960s China has invested in constructing a different scale of storage facili­ties in Beijing, Changchun, Lanzhou and Wuxi to accept and store RAW arising from nuclear technology applications, including disused sealed sources.

With the rapid development of its nuclear industry, China’s RAW manage­ment has gradually been improved over the past 20 years. In the 1950s, when the country’s nuclear industry had just begun to develop, the Chinese gov­ernment put forward the policy that radiation protection should be devel­oped before the nuclear industry became operational, which required that any work involving radioactivity must be accompanied by waste treatment capability and that any RAW discharge complies with the required stand­ards. Therefore, nuclear industry production and research facilities were all equipped with RAW treatment and storage installations for storage of dif­ferent categories of wastes in accordance with the categorization given in Table 22.4.

In the early years, the liquid and gaseous radioactive waste treatment processes, as part of nuclear production and research activities and as a component associated with the main production process, employed purifica­tion filtration, evaporation, and ion exchange among other practices. Such wastes were discharged into the atmosphere and surface water after meeting the national standards — ‘Radiation Protection Regulations’ (GBJ8-74) [11,12]. This standard was issued by the State of Ministry of Nuclear Indus­try, targeting the national regulations on the treatment and disposal of radioactive wastes. Those liquid and solid radioactive wastes that could not be discharged were stored. In general, in the process of nuclear facility construction and operation, the treatment of gaseous and liquid radioactive waste generally received due attention with practical treatment technology being employed. This played an important role in ensuring normal operation as well as environmental protection. All sorts of liquid wastes generated in the processes operating at each nuclear facility underwent solidification treatment. Evaporator residues of liquid LLW underwent bituminization and the resultant solidified forms, after packaging, were sent to a storage facility near Beijing. The programme for dealing with China’s legacy HLW is based on joule heated ceramic melters (JHCM) such as those used in Germany, Japan, the US and Russia operating at well over 1,100°C. However, opportunities exist in the future that waste streams from NPP from China may be more applicable to cold crucible induction melting (CCIM) technol­ogy, which has been developed intensively by France and Russia. From a materials point of view, selected glass compositions will be within the boro — silicate range adapted for current wastes and the envisaged future HLW streams. Large-scale research programmes and investment are also under way on the development of glass composite and ceramic waste forms.

With the construction and expansion of NPPs and the development of the radioactive waste management concepts of making safe disposal central, progress has been made in RAW treatment and conditioning technology and installation. NPPs in China now have liquid and solid RAW treatment facilities installed during their construction. NPP operators prepare RAW management programmes, which specify the assignment of responsibility for RAW management within each NPP. The Chief Manager of each nuclear operational organization acts as the primary person responsible for RAW management. The Chief Manager is responsible for providing suffi­cient resources to ensure effective implementation of the RAW manage­ment programme, and to ensure the national limits of radioactive effluents are complied with. This RAW management arrangement can be maintained and modified in a sustainable manner.

RAWs are managed according to their categories at NPPs. Based on the features of each NPP, the specific categorization schemes are developed and applied to the management of RAW arising from NPP operations. In general, concentrated liquid and spent ion exchange resins are solidified in cement, the waste arising from technology processes is held in storage after sorting and compression. Cement solidification proc­esses have been established in Daya Bay, QNPP II and Ling-ao NPPs to carry out cement solidification of liquid LILW, spent exchange resins and spent filter cartridges. Spent ion exchange resins produced at QNPP and QNPP III are currently stored temporarily and cemented waste forms are stored in waste storage facilities at such NPPs. The solid RAW gener­ated at NPPs is mainly stored in on-site facilities and the liquid wastes are stored in tanks. On the whole, the facilities for waste storage at NPPs are well constructed and in a good condition, and comply with current requirements.

In China, the NPP operators continue to carry out technology modifica­tions. QNPP upgraded the cement solidification installation and as a result the waste drum-filling coefficient increased from less than 79% to more than 90%. Guangdong Daya Bay NPP continues testing to improve the formula for cementation of its spent ion exchange resin so as to raise the waste loading capacity. Daily operational practices include measures to control waste generation. Personnel awareness of waste minimization is reinforced through training and education activities. Suitable operational processes are employed and technological and administrative measures are envisaged to make waste generation ALARA. Moreover, detailed work plans and arrangements to control waste generation during maintenance include: [37]

• enhanced recovery and re-use by dismantling the disused intermediate and high efficiency filters, and returning metal frameworks to manufac­turers when the contamination is below clearance levels.

As of December 2006, the volume of solid LILW generated from China’s NPPs was 4773 m3.

Tracking solid RAW is an important aspect in its safety RAW manage­ment. Each NPP writes specific management procedures to require the tracking of its RAW. Each waste package is tracked by establishing a unique RAW record. The relevant information of the record includes origin of waste, type of waste, date of waste generation, radioactivity level in waste, quantity/volume of waste, temporary storage location, etc.

A main objective of RAW management is to minimize the generation of RAW in China. Compared with some countries, there is still potential to reduce waste generated at China’s NPPs. However, the minimization of RAW is a combined effort balancing factors of technology, safety and economy. China is taking additional actions in controlling the generation of the wastes, upgrading management practices, introducing advanced waste reduction technologies, promoting specialization and socialization in RAW treatment services.

NORM means wastes containing, or contaminated, with naturally occurring materials at a concentration or radioactivity higher than the relevant regu­latory level and which is expected to have no further use. These wastes arise principally from the mining and milling of rare-earth minerals and the production of phosphates among others. The radioactivity in such kinds of wastes is mainly from radioactive materials associated with raw materials and of quite large volume.

Spent fuel (SF)

The amount of Chinese SF was about 1,000 t from light reactors in 2010. It will be 2,000 t in 2015 and then 1,000 t produced each year from 2015 to 2020. However, a single CANDU reactor which will be in operation in Qinshan III will give 200 t SF each year when it is in operation. Since 2010, SF from China’s LWRs is being reprocessed first in a small pilot plant, fol­lowed by vitrification and eventually geological disposal.

HLW includes the high-level liquid waste generated from the reprocessing of SF, and the solidified form of such waste, as well as SF withdrawn from reactors or research reactors pending direct disposal. Due to its high activ­ity, large heat release, high toxicity and long half-life, HLW needs to be isolated from the human environment for a long period of time in a reliable manner.

Uranium (thorium) mining and milling waste

Uranium (thorium) mining and milling wastes have radioactivity levels exceeding the relevant regulatory levels. They were generated from explo­ration, mining, milling closure, mainly covering barren rocks, and tailings characterized by large volume, low activity and simple radionuclide composition.

Low and intermediate level radioactive waste (LILW) arises mainly from NPP operation and nuclear technology applications. Radioactive waste pro­duced from operating NPPs is principally from the following:

• main process equipment and waste treatment equipment, including sec­ondary waste from loop leakage or drainage and waste treatment systems, which includes airborne and liquid radioactive wastes,

• technical maintenance during operation,

• protective articles such as shielding, equipment and miscellaneous scrap replaced during the daily operation.

Table 22.4 Disposal-based radioactive waste categorization system

Waste category Disposal approach

The wastes arising from nuclear technology applications refers to con­taminants that arise from the applications of radioisotopes and irradiation technology in industry, agriculture, medicine, research and teaching, which contain:

• man-made radionuclides with specific activity higher than 2 x 104 Bq/kg;

• or NORM wastes with specific activity higher than 7.4 x 104 Bq/kg;

• or abandoned/discarded wastes arising from the above-mentioned activ­ities with surface contamination levels exceeding the regulatory limits.

Such LILW is widely distributed, of a wide variety, and usually in small amounts.

As specified in the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Radioactive Pollution [9], RAW is defined as material, which contains or is contaminated with radionuclides at concentrations or radio­activity levels greater than the clearance level as established by the regula­tory body without foreseen further use. In China, RAW arises principally from NPP, research reactors, the nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear technology applications, the exploitation and utilization of uranium and thorium resources, as well as clean-up activities of contaminated sites and/or facili­ties such as that shown in Fig. 22.2: some nuclear facilities in the Gobi Desert in the west part of China (Qinghai Province), which were used during the 1950s and 1960s, need to be cleaned up.

To meet the needs for its nuclear power expansion, China has developed uranium enrichment and fuel element manufacture capability. At present, two uranium enrichment plants are in operation, with annual total centrifu­gal enrichment capacity of 1,100 tons of separation work. The first nuclear fuel assembly production line was established in 1988 in Sichuan province, supplying most of the nuclear fuel elements to the Qinshan NPP (Fig. 22.3). Subsequently, the technologies for designing and manufacturing nuclear fuel elements have been imported on a step-by-step basis, to which a techni­cal adaptation was later made. This means that China’s PWR fuel element manufacture can meet the requirements of the international generic stand­ards, so as to ensure that the supply of nuclear fuel elements meets the demands of the current PWR plants in China. Through introducing technol­ogy from Canada, a high pressure reactor fuel element production line, with

a capacity of 200 tonnes per year, was built in Inner Mongolia, Northern China, where it provides HWR fuel elements for Qinshan NPP III.

China ’s RAW categorization system is based on pre-disposal manage­ment and disposal of RAW. In pre-disposal management, the RAW catego­rization system accounts for the nuclear facility operational experience in waste treatment and conditioning requirements, which includes a quantitative categorization system for radioactive gaseous, liquid and solid wastes. The disposal-based RAW categorization system focuses on the final disposal of RAW, in conjunction with the origin of the waste and the planned disposal approach.

The pre-disposal management-based waste categorization system is used to manage gaseous, liquid and solid RAW generated at nuclear facilities, with a detailed categorization for different forms of wastes according to their radioactive characteristics as shown in Table 22.3 . This is consistent with the basic requirements of waste treatment but puts more emphasis on

the cleaning index, shielding design, and other field protection require­ments. These requirements are implemented in the waste treatment and conditioning processes for various systems. It is noticeable that most Chinese standards on nuclear or radioactive waste management are coherent with the current IAEA classification scheme. For example, both the IAEA and Chinese standards specify that management of decay heat should be con­sidered if the thermal power of waste packages reaches several watts per cubic metre [10,11].

The disposal-based radioactive waste categorization system divides solid radioactive waste into solid LLW, solid ILW, solid HLW, solid alpha waste and the waste arising from mining and milling of uranium and thorium, and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) waste. Disposal options considered include centralized deep geological disposal, regional near­surface disposal, and centralized landfill, and others, as shown in Table 22.4. Solid LLW containing only short-lived radionuclides can be released from regulatory control when the radioactivity contained is below the regulatory clearance levels. However, management of cleared waste should be in com­pliance with other relevant environmental requirements.

The Chinese government and research communities have also paid atten­tion to the issues of radioactive waste disposal and repository siting and design. Waste generated from NPP is, for the most part, currently stored at the NPP sites where the wastes are generated as well as at research institu­tions that have reactors. The accumulated low and intermediate level radio­active waste (LILW) will eventually be sent to near-surface disposal facilities. The high level wastes (HLW) will be sent to a geological repository when it is available; this is expected to be sometime around 2050 [5-7].

Most of China’s regulations and standards are developed based on inter­national safety standards in combination with the Chinese situation. China’s current spent fuel (SF) management policy is to reprocess. However, the SF generated so far is still in interim storage, either at or away from the reactors. China’ s radioactive waste policy serves as a baseline for China’ s radioactive waste regulations, which are in place to guarantee that there will be no radioactive waste burden left for future generations.

Adapted from the IAEA regulations [8], waste producers in China must:

1. Minimize waste in fuel production and fuel cycles, materials classifica­tion and purification.

2. Guarantee a high volume reduction.

3. Use high quality waste packaging materials along with safety regula­tions that cover transportation and in-situ storage during periods when the waste may be exposed.

4. Centralize and control disposal and control release from a waste package which includes enhanced monitoring.

5. Design, construct and operate all facilities and practices for radioactive waste within these practices.

The liquid RAW generated at NPP must be immobilized and solidified. The regulations mandate that the implementers of waste disposal must be rela­tively independent from the waste producers. The waste disposal service is not chartered by or sponsored by the central government. Five regional sites in Guangdong Province, Zhejiang Province, Gansu and Beijing have been built, mainly for disposal of LILW. For HLW, including SF, current practice is to temporarily store the wastes, while the liquid RAW is being solidified.

In terms of the legislative framework, the China Atomic Energy Authority/ Agency (CAEA) is responsible for development of policies concerning the peaceful uses of nuclear energy:

• development of industry standards;

• control of nuclear materials;

• acting as a leading body for nuclear accident response, in particular for organizing the State Committee of Nuclear Accident Coordination;

• reviewing and approving the nuclear energy development project;

• reviewing and approving R&D projects.

The People’s Congress developed the Regulatory Framework Act to address some issues with the signed Presidential Regulations. The State Council is responsible for the promulgation of regulations, which are issued with the signature of the Prime Minister.

China ’s nuclear programme is very ambitious. In 2009, China began to construct six NPP, and construction of 11 more began in 2010. It is planned to build 52 new reactors over the next five years, although after Fukushima a hold was placed on new licence applications and the programme has slowed. Meanwhile, the volume of China’s radioactive waste (RAW) is predicted to increase up to 10-fold by 2020, mostly from its 80 GW capacity new build plan. A £10 billion investment in research into radioactive waste management and repository investigation has been included in the next National 5-10 Year Plan in Science & Technology for the overall national energy programme in China.

China is also developing its own fast neutron reactor, with some signifi­cant breakthroughs in Generation IV reactors. In particular, China’s Experi­mental Fast Reactor (CEFR) developed by the China Institute of Atomic Energy and Nuclear Power Research Institute under China National

Nuclear Co. (CNNC) achieved criticality in July 2010, making China the eighth country to develop fast reactor technology. This fast reactor project uses sodium as a coolant to generate 65 MWe (thermal) and 20 MW (elec­tric) power and has been financially supported by China ’s National 863 Research Programme.

Up until 2011, China ’s nuclear power was still very small compared with other major world powers and only -1.5% of the nation ’ s electricity was generated by nuclear power. China has 12 operating nuclear power units (Table 22.1), distributed along coastal areas. Plate V (between pages 448 and 449) shows the geographical distribution of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in China.

With current worldwide interest in nuclear power as a clean energy source and the technical development of waste management and disposal in China, nuclear is becoming a significant proportion of China ’s power generation. As of June 2010, the official nuclear capacity targets were 80 GWe by 2020, 200 GWe by 2030 and 400 GWe by 2050 (Fig. 22.1). The aim

is that by 2050, the nuclear electricity generated should reach around 15-25% of overall electricity generated in China, similar to other superpow­ers [1-4].

China also has 12 research reactors, 2 uranium enrichment facilities in Gansu, 3 major research facilities mainly in Beijing, and also 32 storage facilities and 2 low and intermediate level waste disposal facilities (LILW) for dealing with the waste from past military and general research reactors, as well as for covering the waste from the newly built coastal NPP. The inventory from one of the waste facilities (in Gansu Province) is given in Table 22.2 .

The recent surge in nuclear power has brought much attention to China’s overall nuclear programme and the concerns are mainly in the following areas:

• social and economic impacts of nuclear energy,

• the large capital investment required,

• reactor central control systems, including plant safety, radiation protec­tion and emergency accidents, lack of qualified trained engineers and workers, lack of advanced technology,

• uranium mine resources plus management, and, in particular,

• waste management and repository resources.

Z. FAN, China Institute of Radiation Protection, China, Y. LIU and J. WANG, Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, China, G. REN, University of Hertfordshire, UK and W. E. LEE, Imperial College London, UK

DOI: 10.1533/9780857097446.2.697

Abstract: Progress in the management of China’s radioactive waste (RAW) is described, including waste generation, waste management policy, and current practices in regional disposal of low and intermediate level waste (LILW) and development of a geological disposal facility for hight level waste (HlW).

Key words: China radioactive waste management, geological repository, regulations and policies.

22.1 Introduction

China started its commercial nuclear industry in the early 1970s; however, development was slow prior to 2000. To meet the energy demands of its rapid economic growth and social development over the last 30 years, China has been building an electricity supply system with multiple sources. Coal — powered electrical plants still play a major role. Meanwhile, cleaner energy, including nuclear, will see significant growth considering factors of resource, transportation, environmental concern and climate change.