17 Oct Partitioning and transmutation of nuclear waste

National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech)
2014

In June 2011, the German government’s announcement of the transition to renewable energy (known as the ‘Energiewende’) marked the beginning of the end for electricity production using nuclear power. The goal is for all electricity production at Germany’s nuclear power stations to cease by 2022. However, no definitive answer has yet been provided to the question of where and how the radioactive waste from these power plants will be permanently disposed of. In particular, there is currently no permanent storage facility for highly radioactive heat-generating waste. Whilst this type of waste only represents a small fraction of the overall volume, it accounts for 99 percent of the total radioactivity of the waste from nuclear plants.