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Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
How is nuclear waste disposed of? Does the IAEA check for compliance with safe procedures of nuclear waste disposal? And if so, how?
Answer
Countries currently take one of three approaches to dealing with their spent fuel. Some rececyle it to extract usable uranium and plutonium for use in new fuel. What remains is high-level waste that is currently stored pending final disposal. This is the approach followed in France, Russia, Japan, India and China.
The 2nd approach is to dispose of the spent fuel directly without recycling. This is the policy in the USA, Canada, Finland and Sweden.
The third approach is to wait and see before choosing one of the first two.
Right now, there is currently no operating final repository for nuclear waste, so all spent fuel and waste from recyling are being stored. The Finnish, Swedish and US repository programmes are the furthest advanced, although none will have a repository in operation much before 2020. Waste will be buried and isolated with a series of engineered and natural barriers. The first barrier is the waste matrix and initial waste package, which, in the Swedish case for example, is the solid fuel pellets and fuel-rod cladding.
Second are engineered barriers, e.g. copper canisters, iron inserts, and clay fill around the waste package. Third is the host geological formation in the chosen site, which is chosen for its stability and relative impermeability to water. Some people consider it bad news that no final repository is yet operating for civilian waste (there is one operating in the US since 1999 for some military and research reactor waste). But the relative good news would be that storage technology has now 50 years' experience and can be extended to give publics and politicians as much time as they want to thoroughly work out what is politically prefereable. The IAEA applies safeguards to waste from material that is under safeguards to make sure it is not diverted for weapons. But safety is overseen by countries, not the IAEA.
Here is the Swedish concept for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel as an illustration of the multi-barrier concept.
Name
birhanu
- Ethiopia
Profession
Question
Why do you always focus on the middle east?
Answer
In my Department, the Nuclear Energy Department, we don't really. We're providing some assistance to Iran in connection with the construction of Bushehr, in terms of quality control, training, management systems and the like. My Department also provides assistance with national energy system analysis and planning, which several Middle Eastern countries take advantage of. Since this assistance treats all energy options equally, countries are often interested even if they have no interest in nuclear power. For some of the Middle Eastern countries exploring nuclear power or nuclear-powered desalination of seawater we also provide assistance. Right now most of the expansion of nuclear power is centered in Asia, so we provide a lot of support there and more generally throughout the developing countries. Our Department of Nuclear Applications, which provides support for medical, agricultural, health, environmental and industrial applications of nuclear technologies is involved in very many developing countries.
Name
Robe
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Profession
Question
What is the difference between the peaceful way in using the nuclear power and the non-peaceful way?
Answer
The peaceful applications that most people probably have direct experience with are either cancer treatment or nuclear powered electricity. Nuclear technolgies are used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and some other diseases. They are used to sterilize medical instruments and things like cosmetics. They are used in smoke alarms. They are used for 'non-destructive testing' to check welds and material in pipelines and other industrial applications. They are used in gauges to, say, measure the thickness of aluminium cans or to measure when bottles on an assemby line are full. Nuclear techniques are used to induce mutations in crops in the laboratory, that can then be selectively bred to increase drought resistance or resistance to salty soils and to improve yields. Nuclear techniques can be used to irradiate grain and other foods in storage so they won't spoil. And it can be used to control agricultural pests like the med-fly and tse-tse fly. It can also be used for environmental monitoring and tracking groundwater resources. Finally it can be used to generate electricity. It provides about 16% of the world's electricity.
Non-peaceful uses of nuclear energy are anything having to do with nuclear weapons or 'dirty-bombs', where radioactive material is connected to ordinary explosives so as to disburse the radioactive material and contaminate an area.
Name
A. A. M
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Profession
Question
Just what is the Non-Prolifertion Treaty? Does it only prevent countries from developing nuclear weapons, or from developing nuclear energy? Why aren't all countries pressured to sign the treaty — including Israel and India?
Answer
The NPT entered into force in 1970. It now has at least 187 Parties. Key countries who are not members are India, Israel and Pakistan. Countries who are members are in one of two categories: nuclear-weapons states or non-nuclear-weapons states. The 5 nuclear-weapons states are China, Russia, France, the UK and the USA. Art. IV of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty obliges all parties "to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy." Art. VI obliges the nuclear-weapons states to "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament." Arts. I and II oblige non-nuclear weapons states to not acquire nuclear weapons and they oblige nuclear-weapons states to not help any countries acquire nuclear weapons. The countries that are not members are also regularly pressured, by various countries, NGOs and international organization, to join the treaty.
Name
Mariam
- Egypt
Profession
Student
Question
I would like to know more about the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty, who signed it and who didn't. And why is a country like India allowed to have nuclear technology, but not Iran? Wasn't there the threat of Pakistan and India attacking each other with nuclear weapons, so why the change of mind? Why can countries in Europe continue to build nuclear power plants, while some other countries cannot? Isn't nuclear power supposed to be the future of clean power? So why can't everyone use it?
Answer
I think I answered some of these in my response to the last questions. The NPT, particularly Art. IV, is quite clear about the right of all parties to nuclear technologies for peaceful applications, and Iran has emphasized this point in the recent discussions. In fact the NPT obliges all parties "to facilitate ... the fullest possible exchange" of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. India is not a member of the NPT so it cannot appeal to these provisions like Iran can. The constraints on transfering nuclear technology to India are imposed by something called the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which is separate from the IAEA and from the NPT. It is not based on a treaty but on agreements between the members on their guidelines for exporting nuclear material. They will have to change their guidelines, and countries like the USA will have to change their laws, in order to allow previously forbidden exports to India. That's what all the discussion is about. The NPT and the Agency statute are both written to facilitate the spread of nuclear power and other peaceful applications. We would like to see all countries firmly within the global non-proliferation regime and all countries interested in nuclear power getting whatever assistance we can provide.
Name
Youssef
- Egypt
Profession
Question
What are the requirements for a developing country to acquire Nuclear Energy with the acceptance of the international community?
Answer
There are no binding requirements, but there are recommendations. To get the acceptance of "the international community" a country would need to be a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which most developing countries are. Many developing countries also already have experience with research reactors, are members of various international conventions (on safety, emergency notification and assistance, waste management, physical protection, tce.), and have a legal and regulatory infrastructure to deal with nuclear applications in non-power applications (e.g., medical, industrial) or research reactors. But the legislation and regulatory agencies would have to be expanded to include the necessary knowledge and staff for nuclear power.
The IAEA assists countries interested in drafting legislation and regulations and training and organizing regulatory expansion. We also help a lot of countries with energy system planning to make sure a nuclear power plant would make sense. And we're expanding our efforts in helping to define what a country needs in terms of infrastructure (supporting industry, trained workforce) and so on.
The biggest challenge for many countries will be financial. Although people are developing designs for smaller reactors, the designs available on the market now are big and thus expensive. For some countries, the designs are too big to add to the electricity grid. It may make more sense for some countries to work with neighboring countries to interconnect their grids and jointly build a nuclear plant, rather than go it alone.
Name
Editor
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Profession
Question
When are countries signed to the NPT expected to dispose of existing nuclear weapons?
Answer
I'm afraid there is no time limit. Art. VI reads in its entirety "Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control."
The 2000 NPT Review Conference included additional language as follows "The Conference agrees on the following practical steps for the systematic and progressive efforts to implement article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and paragraphs 3 and 4 (c) of the 1995 Decision on "Principles and Objectives for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament":...
5. The principle of irreversibility to apply to nuclear disarmament, nuclear and other related arms control and reduction measures.
6. An unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear weapon States to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals leading to nuclear disarmament, to which all States parties are committed under article VI.
But, as you know, these statements haven't resulted in the progress many would like to see, and the 2005 NPT Review Conference could not agree even on language like what they had agreed to in 1995.
Name
Amgad
- Algeria
Profession
Question
What are the precautions to be taken in order to protect countries surrounding suspicious countries?
Answer
The precautions are the safeguards agreements that parties to the NPT are required to negotiate with the IAEA, something called the Additional Protocol, and measures to strengthen security on nuclear material within countries and at border crossings.
For material under safeguards, the IAEA conducts inspections to verify the material is being used as declared and not being diverted. Because such safeguards proved insufficient to deter the original Iraqi weapons program at the beginning of the 1990s, the members states of the IAEA gave us authority to negotiate Additional Protocols, which are much closer to having "any time, any where" inspection authority. We're trying to persuade all countries to sign Additional Protocols. There is also a Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, which would provide the signers' neighbors some reassurance that any nuclear material is being well protected.
Name
Host
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Profession
Question
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Answer
IOL Health and Science Dept. would like to thank Mr. Alan McDonald for taking the time to answer the questions of IslamOnline viewers today. Thank you also to all readers that participated in this dialogue. We apologize for not being able to accommodate all the questions within the time allocated to this session. We request our readers to join us in upcoming sessions and also for our related discussion on "Power Talk: Nuclear Technology and the Iran Crisis".
