Development of a Deep Geological Repository in the Czech Republic

The construction of a deep repository in the Czech Republic is in the interest of the whole nation. The Czech energy policy envisages increased future electricity generation from nuclear sources; there is both social and political consensus with regard to the construction of new nuclear power plants. Both existing and future nuclear plants provide sources of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste which can only be safely managed by its eventual disposal in a deep repository.

With regard to geological conditions in the Czech Republic, the geological repository will most likely be constructed in a granite rock mass or a similar rock environment made up of gneiss, a metamorphosed rock. Most importantly, it will be constructed in a seismically stable area. Similar granite or gneiss formations will be used for deep repository construction in Sweden and Finland. The properties of such formations with regard to repository development and construction have been subject to long-term research in underground laboratories in Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, South Korea and other countries.

The plan to construct a deep geological repository in the Czech Republic is driven by a number of factors:

• spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste will be produced in the country for a number of decades into the future;
• this is the only solution which is both viable and technologically and economically acceptable (the specialist community worldwide is agreed on this solution and a number of countries are moving forward on their own projects);
• exporting radioactive waste to other countries is illegal;
• although spent nuclear fuel contains fission materials which can be re-used as fuel for both existing and newly developed reactors, a certain amount of waste, including high-level waste from reprocessed spent fuel, will still have to be disposed of in a deep repository;
• furthermore, certain types of radioactive waste do not meet the criteria for acceptance in a near-surface repository (concerning radioactivity level, waste form etc.).