Planning of a LILW - low and intermediate level radioactive waste disposal facility
Construction of repository for permanent disposal of low and intermedate level radioactive waste in Slovenia is required by international and domestic law.
According to the national programme, the basic task of the public service in relation to preparation for the construction and the construction itself of the low-and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW) repository is to put in place a safe and effective LILW repository in Slovenia.
Construction of repository for permanent disposal of low and intermedate level radioactive waste in Slovenia is required by international and domestic law.
The LILW disposal facility designed by Slovenia will be of the near-surface type, with a disposal unit in the form of a silo and will be built at Vrbina in the Municipality of Krško. The type and site of the repository have been approved under the National Spatial Plan. Work will comprise the construction of an administration/service and technological facility, a disposal silo, a hall above the silo, and road and utilities infrastructure. The external areas will be landscaped.
The repository is intended for the disposal of LILW produced at Krško Nuclear Power Plant (Krško NPP) during its operation and its subsequent decommissioning and institutional radioactive waste produced by medical, research and industrial activities in Slovenia.
Construction of the LILW repository will establish the conditions for the reliable long-term operation of NEK, which contributes significantly to the secure supply of electricity in Slovenia, and for the safe, cost-effective and stable use of radioactive sources in science, medicine and industry. The ethical aspect is also important: the generation that derives benefits from the use of nuclear energy should also be responsible for disposing of radioactive waste and should not place an unnecessary burden on future generations.
Permanent disposal has the advantage of passive safety over the storage of waste in storage facilities, i.e. with storage, safety is ensured by human intervention, while with permanent disposal it is ensured without human intervention. Državnim prostorskim načrtom. Zgrajeni bodo upravnoservisni in tehnološki objekt, silos, hala, cestna in komunalna infrastruktura; urejene bodo zunanje površine.
Odlagališče bo namenjeno odlaganju nizko- in srednjeradioaktivnih odpadkov (NSRAO), ki nastajajo v Nuklearni elektrarni Krško (NEK) pri obratovanju in ki bodo nastali kasneje pri razgradnji, ter radioaktivnih odpadkov, ki nastajajo v medicini, raziskovalni dejavnosti in industriji v Sloveniji.
Z izgradnjo odlagališča NSRAO bodo zagotovljeni pogoji za dolgoročno zanesljivo obratovanje NEK, ki bistveno prispeva k zanesljivosti oskrbe z elektriko v Sloveniji, ter za varno, gospodarno in zanesljivo uporabo radioaktivnih virov v znanosti, medicini in industriji. Pomemben je tudi etični vidik: generacija, ki uživa koristi od uporabe jedrske energije, naj poskrbi tudi za odlaganje radioaktivnih odpadkov in naj tega bremena po nepotrebnem ne prelaga na prihodnje generacije.
Prednost trajnega odlaganja pred shranjevanjem odpadkov v skladiščih je pasivna varnost. Pri skladiščenju varnost zagotavlja človek, pri trajnem odlaganju je varnost zagotovljena brez človekovega posredovanja.