Assessing Current Storage Capacity and Future Disposal Strategies

China possesses substantial storage capabilities for both low-level and high-level radioactive waste resulting from nuclear power generation. This was stated by Liu Lu, the director general of radiation source safety supervision, during a recent news conference.

The majority of waste produced by nuclear power plants in China, exceeding 90 percent, is classified as low-level radioactive waste. Under strict regulatory oversight, a 1-million-kilowatt nuclear power unit typically generates a maximum of 50 cubic meters of this waste annually. Nuclear power plants routinely store this waste temporarily before transferring it to specialized facilities for centralized disposal.

Prior to 2022, China lacked dedicated facilities for the disposal of waste from nuclear power generation. This issue was addressed with the operational launch of the Longhe disposal site in July 2022. This facility, with a planned capacity of 1 million cubic meters, is designed to handle the solid radioactive waste generated by approximately 100 nuclear power units over a century.

China also has sufficient capacity to manage the limited amount of high-level radioactive waste produced by its nuclear facilities. This is due to the relatively young age of most of these facilities. The majority of high-level radioactive waste consists of spent fuel.

Spent fuel is initially cooled in a spent fuel pool for several years after removal from the reactor core. It is then transferred to specialized dry storage facilities for long-term storage. The spent fuel, which still contains valuable materials, will eventually be transported to a deep geological disposal site for permanent storage after these materials are extracted.

Given the average age of less than 10 years for nuclear power facilities in China, the volume of high-level radioactive waste generated has been relatively small. Each unit is equipped with a spent fuel pool, and some nuclear power bases have multiple dry storage facilities for spent fuel. Consequently, the current storage needs for spent fuel generated by the country's nuclear power plants are being met.