Home for the peaceful atom. Atomic wastes to be stored

Erection of a temporary storage site for nuclear waste is planned on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant. The project developed by America's Duke Engineering and Service Co. stipulates dry storage in containers for fifty years.

Dry storage in containers on the station's territory proved to be the most effective and safe solution to the problem, which meets all ecological requirements.

Today six different power stations in the USA have dry container storage sites, and another six have launched construction of this type of facility. This method is acknowledged to be rational, because after three to five years of storage, the spent fuel loses a considerable part of its heat and radiation. After five years it can be stored on the territory of the station in special containers which do not require water. Dry containers also secure the necessary biological protection of plant staff and the environment from radiation.

The estimated work term of such storage is over fifty years. This way Ukraine has enough time to decide on a method of permanent nuclear waste disposal.