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Nuclear Waste Management in India
Context:
The Government of India, under the Nuclear Energy Mission (Budget 2025-26), has set a target of 100 GW nuclear capacity by 2047, making nuclear waste management a critical priority.
Legal and Regulatory Framework
- Governed under:
- Atomic Energy Act, 1962.
- Atomic Energy (Safe Disposal of Radioactive Wastes) Rules, 1987.
- Guiding principle: No waste is released unless cleared, exempted, or excluded from regulations.
- Regulatory compliance in line with IAEA guidelines.
Nuclear Waste and its Disposal
- Low & Intermediate-level waste:
- Generated during reactor operation.
- Managed at site itself.
- Techniques: Treatment, compaction, cement immobilization.
- Disposal in reinforced concrete trenches/tile holes.
- Surveillance: Bore-wells and groundwater monitoring.
- Solid Waste Volume Norm:
- About 15 cubic meters/year/MW including decommissioning.
High-Level Waste & Advanced Technologies
- India follows a closed nuclear fuel cycle:
- Spent fuel is reprocessed.
- Reusable fissile material recovered.
- High-level waste:
- Immobilized in inert glass matrix (vitrification).
- Stored in Solid Storage Surveillance Facilities (SSSF).
- Research and Development:
- Partitioning technologies for recovery of long-lived radioactive constituents.
- Radioisotope extraction for societal applications.
- Incineration of long-lived actinides ? reduces need for long-term geological disposal in future.
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