Deep disposal facilities of high-level radioactive waste
The only facility in Russia designed for deep disposal of long-lived waste with high heat release (high-level radioactive waste) and long-lived high- and medium-level radioactive waste with insignificant heat release. The deep disposal facilities of long-lived radioactive waste is created for the purpose of final withdrawal from the sphere of life activity of the most environmentally hazardous long-lived waste previously accumulated in the Russian Federation and located in above-ground temporary storage facilities. The disposal site is the Yeniseisky site of the Nizhnekansky rock massif (Archean gneisses) in Krasnoyarsk Krai, 6 kilometres from the town of Zheleznogorsk. At present, the preliminary stage is underway – establishment of the Underground Research Laboratory (URL) at the site;
Long-lived radioactive waste with high heat release is planned to be buried in vertical boreholes 75 metres deep, in thick-walled pockets with a strong barrier of pressed bentonite; long-lived high- and medium-level radioactive waste with insignificant heat release is planned to be placed in stacks of containers in horizontal underground workings (scheme below).
The manufacture of compacted bentonite products on a laboratory scale has been successfully developed. Pictures of various compacted bentonite materials are shown below.
