A nuclear waste repository being considered in the Upper Cumberland would store solid radioactive material deep underground rather than the liquid waste people may commonly associate with nuclear facilities.
Local leaders found out recently the state was looking at several counties as part of Tennessee’s proposed Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus. Tennessee Tech Professor of Nuclear Engineering Jeffrey King said spent nuclear material can be processed into ceramic or glass designed to keep it from moving through the environment.
“It is radioactive waste so it’s radioactively decaying,” King said, “Which means over time it’s becoming less and less radioactive and will eventually essentially be at the same level of radioactivity as rocks from the Earth.”
King said one method involves combining the waste with borosilicate glass and forming it into large solid logs. Those materials would ultimately be placed well below the surface in a geologic formation selected for long-term stability.
“Ultimately it’s some form of deep geological repository,” King said. “You’d look at the geology and you would look at situating this sufficiently deep that it would be removed from the environment.”
King said creating the repository could involve boring holes or constructing underground mines in rock formations that have remained undisturbed for millions of years. The material could initially remain retrievable before the repository is eventually sealed.
“It’s not the stuff you see on The Simpsons,” King said. “None of the material that you see in The Simpsons is realistic to what this stuff actually is. It would be a either ceramic or glass material.”
King said the proposed nuclear campus would also include reprocessing spent fuel to recover material that can be used again for energy production. That process could reduce the amount and change the characteristics of the material requiring long-term disposal.
King said preventing radioactive material from migrating into groundwater would be an important consideration when selecting the geology and location for a repository.
“That’s always been the concern, but it’s not honestly not from a technical standpoint, a scientific or technical standpoint, is really not that big of a risk,” King said. “But it certainly is admittedly the one that the public worries about the most.”
King said Tennessee’s proposal is part of a federal effort to develop a nuclear campus encompassing multiple stages of the nuclear fuel cycle. Tennessee is among the states working with the federal government on the concept, which could bring billions of dollars in investment to the state.
