Storage
There is still a long way to go until final disposal, and safety must be paramount at every stage. Interim storage facilities for high-level radioactive waste have an important role to play in this process.
Storage of high-level radioactive waste
The facilities mainly contain casks with spent fuel from nuclear power plants, but also casks with high- from . The materials are stored there until they are transferred to a .
Once removed from the reactor core, the of spent fuel is extremely high. As a result, special care must be taken when handling this type of fuel. To simplify the handling process, fuel rods are typically stored in a water-filled cooling pond for approximately five years. During this time, the and temperature of the spent fuel will decrease. After one year, for example, the will have decreased to about one hundredth of the original value. The wet storage facilities are located in the immediate vicinity of the reactor and are part of the nuclear power plants. After decay in the wet storage facility, the fuel elements are transferred to transport and storage casks in Germany and then on to dry . During dry storage, the casks themselves provide robust protection against external impacts and do not require a power supply for cooling.
Even at the facility, the spent fuel elements will continue to release significant amounts of heat that must be removed. The lower the heat output of the waste after , the closer together the waste can be packed for final underground, and the more compact the itself can be.
