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2012 | Book

Zusammenfassung Read chapter Read first chapter

Radioactive Waste

Technical and Normative Aspects of its Disposal

Authors: Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig

Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Book Series : Wissenschaftsethik und Technikfolgenbeurteilung

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

Radioactive waste (above all highly radioactive wastes from nuclear installations) caused by research, medicine and technology must be disposed of safely. However both the strategies disputed for the disposal of radioactive waste as well as concrete proposals for choosing a location for final waste disposal are highly debatable.

An appropriate disposal must conform to both complex, technical requirements and fulfill the radio-biological conditions to appropriately protect man and nature. Ethical, legal and social conditions must also be considered. An interdisciplinary team from various, relevant fields compiled the current status-quo and developed criteria and strategies, which on the one hand meet the requirements of optimal warning and prevention of risk for present and future generations, and additionally on the other hand meet the needs of what current society agrees what is expected to be allowed.

This study can be understood as an advanced and continuing contribution to the corresponding scientific specialized debates, due to its interdisciplinary treatment. At the same time it serves as a fundamentally informing contribution to public and political debates, offering an easily comprehensible executive summary and precise content recommendations.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter

A Zusammenfassung, Schlussfolgerungen und Empfehlungen

Frontmatter
Zusammenfassung
Technische Aspekte der dauerhaften Entsorgung radioaktiver Abfälle
Das Problem der Entsorgung radioaktiver Abfälle weist eine technische und eine gesellschaftliche Dimension auf. Lösungen müssen nicht nur technisch machbar, sondern auch gesetzlich und politisch durchsetzbar und gesellschaftlich akzeptabel sein und einen sicheren Einschluss langlebiger hochradioaktiver Abfälle für lange Zeiten gewährleisten sowie unangemessene Belastungen für zukünftige Generationen vermeiden.
Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig
Schlussfolgerungen und Empfehlungen
Ethische Grundlagen
Verpflichtungen, die den Akteuren eine umsichtige Entsorgung radioaktiver Abfälle auferlegen, gelten prinzipiell unbefristet und bestehen – wenn auch in ihrer Verbindlichkeit graduell abnehmend – auch gegenüber den Angehörigen ferner Generationen. Die bei der Entwicklung von Entsorgungsstrategien einzubeziehenden komplexen Verläufe (die “Folgenräume”) sind gleichwohl aus rationalen Erfordernissen der Planung und aus Gründen der Effizienz zeitlich zu befristen. Eine solche Befristung sollte sich am voraussehbaren künftigen Wirkungspotential der Folgen orientieren, und damit am relativen, mit den Phasen des Zerfalls-Prozesses und der gewählten Entsorgungsstrategie variierenden Gefährdungspotential der Lagerinventare und möglicher Expositionen in der Biosphäre.
Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig

A Executive summary, conclusions and recommendations

Frontmatter
Executive summary
Technical issues of long-term radioactive waste management
A solution to the problem of long-term radioactive waste management (RWM) comprises a technical and social dimension, i.e. it must not only be technically achievable, but also legally and politically feasible and publicly acceptable. The technical solutions have to ensure beyond reasonable doubt safe and secure containment of long-lived highly radioactive waste for the indefinite/distant future and avoidance of undue burdens on future generations. Despite the perceived link between RWM and the controversial debate on nuclear power production the problem of RWM is considered as one which has to be solved no matter which perspectives are foreseen or debated concerning nuclear power production: the additional amount of radioactive waste due operating time extension is small compared to the existing stocks of radioactive waste. The fact that a solution of the RWM problem would disprove a key argument against nuclear power is not a justified reason to hinder such a solution. There is a wide variety of radioactive wastes arising from several activities, the most important one (in Germany) being nuclear power production. For some radioactive materials it is a matter of definition and strategy whether they are considered as resource or waste. In particular, this applies to irradiated spent fuel (SNF).
Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig
Conclusions and recommendations
Ethical framework
Obligations which commit the stakeholders to prudent management of radioactive waste are in principle valid indefinitely and continue to exist towards the members of distant generations – though their binding force gradually decreases over time. The complex sequences (the “sequence spaces”) which must be included in the development of waste management strategies must nonetheless have time limits set, to meet the rational requirements of planning and for reasons of efficiency. Such a time limit should be based on the foreseeable future effect of the consequences, and thus on the relative hazard potential of the contents of the disposal facility and of possible exposure in the biosphere, which vary with the phases of the decay process and the chosen waste management strategy.
Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig

B Technical and normative foundations

Frontmatter
Waste management strategies and disposal design
Background, basic approach
A solution to the problem of long-term radioactive waste management (RWM) comprises a technical and social dimension, i. e. it must not only be technically achievable, but also publicly acceptable. The technical solutions have to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that a method/concept exists to ensure safe and secure containment of long-lived highly radioactive waste for the indefinite/distant future and that undue burdens on future generations are avoided (taken from Flowers Report (Flowers 1976) but modified).
Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig
Radiation risk and radiological protection
Introduction
With respect to radioactive waste health risks are caused by ionising radiations which occur in conjunction with the decay of radionuclides. Biological risks of ionising radiation were already identified a few years after the discovery of X-rays by Röntgen (1895) and of radioactivity by Becquerel (1896). A very extensive knowledge has been achieved about estimating radiation doses (see section B 2.2) and radiation effects by clinical studies as well as by experimental investigations. For risk evaluations, the shape of the dose effect curves is of eminent significance (Fig. B.29). In radiation research as well as in toxicology of chemicals in general two principal categories of dose effect relationships have been described (ICRP 1977). The shape of these dose response curves is based on manifold experimental studies of radiation effects which have been experimentally investigated by studying molecular structures, living cells and animals after radiation exposures. Further data have been obtained from clinical experiences and epidemiological studies which have been observed after the exposure to ionising radiation in humans in connection with radiotherapy, diagnostics, atomic bomb explosions in Japan and further accidents (UNSCEAR 1993; 1994; 2000; 2006 BEIR 1990; 2005).
Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig
Management of high level radioactive waste with reference to long-term responsibility
Ethics as rational conflict resolution
Judging by the prolonged protests and debates in Germany and other countries over the management of radioactive waste, the issue of finding an adequate waste management strategy seems to be afflicted with a considerable potential for conflict. The easily raised tempers and the emphasis and passion with which arguments are put forward are just an external indicator of this – and not a particularly reliable one. Clearly, the heated mode in which the conflict is sometimes carried on in public is a characteristic trait of the debate and deserves closer attention, especially if one is interested not only in the theoretical development of strategies, but in the practical resolution of the conflict. And if a solution is to be brought about by resolving factual issues rather than issues of power, the conflict must also be analysed in terms of its social and political dimensions, in order to test how the partisan insistence on a particular position can be transformed into a constructive discourse about rational strategies acceptable to all parties (see below, section B 3.3). This is the only way to find a legitimate as well as legitimized solution.
Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig
Legal questions of managing high level radioactive waste
Basic legal issues
In the 1980s, there was a controversial debate in Germany about the constitutionality of the peaceful use of nuclear energy which also addressed the problem of radioactive waste disposal. Hasso Hofmann, a specialist of constitutional law and philosophy of law with high reputation, took the position that the use of nuclear energy was ethically irresponsible and unlawful from a constitutional law point of view (Hofmann 1981:286), relying to a major degree on arguments related to the problem of final disposal of high level radioactive waste. Hasso Hofmann was particularly concerned about the fact that, due to the long half-time of high level nuclear wastes, these wastes had to be deposited under strictly controlled conditions over a period of time the dimensions of which exceed human imagination, at least human calculation. Leaving such a nuclear legacy to hundred thousands of future generations whose needs, values, technological capabilities and political-administrative governance structures could not be predicted, was in Hasso Hofmann’s eyes ethically irresponsible and unconstitutional. Therefore he strongly pleaded for abandoning the use of nuclear energy. Other authors50 strongly opposed this view, arguing that the waste problem was technically and socially manageable.
Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig
Guidlines for a socially acceptable and fair site selection
Introduction
The process of selecting a site for the final disposal of high-level radioactive waste is an issue which has fuelled extremely heated debates in Germany ever since the commissioning of the Kahl nuclear power plant, Germany’s first experimental plant, in 1960. For forty years now, representatives of a wide variety of interest groups, such as civil movements, ecological groups, as well as representatives from the world of science, politics and industry have tried to agree on a mutually acceptable concept for the selection of the site for the final disposal of high-level radioactive waste. There are manifold reasons why no agreement has been reached to date and why the conflict remains unresolved – and they are not least rooted in the nature of the issue itself (Hocke/Renn 2009). This chapter first takes stock of the perception of the final nuclear waste disposal problem, continues with a conflict diagnosis and concludes with a discussion of the various options for dealing with this conflict.
Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig

C Annex and apparatus

Frontmatter
Annex 1: Some fundamental data for the assessment of radiation risk and radiological protection
Introduction and dosimetric quantities
For the estimation of radiation risk the assessment of the radiation dose and the knowledge of the dose response for certain radiation effects are necessary. The basic quantity for the radiation dose is the absorbed dose, D, given in Gy, which can be measured exactly by physical means. For radiological protection the absorbed dose is averaged over a whole organ or tissue and then the dose conversion factors can be evaluated from measurements of external radiation fields in specific organs and tissues. For internal exposures the incorporated radionuclides have to be determined by either whole body counters or scintillation counters or measurements of radioactivity in the blood, faeces or urine. Dose coefficients for the organs and tissues can then be calculated with the help of biokinetic models. By these procedures the absorbed dose DT, R is determined in an organ or tissue (T) for the radiation (R).
Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig
Annex 2: Legal questions – comparative experience in selected countries
Abstract
The following chapter compares in greater detail the regulatory experience important nuclear countries have made in managing high level nuclear waste. It encompasses the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Japan and Spain. The structure of the presentation corresponds to that of the analysis of German law in chapter 4 so as to facilitate the comparison between the respective countries as well as with Germany for the reader.
Christian Streffer, Carl Friedrich Gethmann, Georg Kamp, Wolfgang Kröger, Eckard Rehbinder, Ortwin Renn, Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Radioactive Waste
Authors
Christian Streffer
Carl Friedrich Gethmann
Georg Kamp
Wolfgang Kröger
Eckard Rehbinder
Ortwin Renn
Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig
Copyright Year
2012
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Electronic ISBN
978-3-642-22925-1
Print ISBN
978-3-642-22924-4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22925-1