India keen on having nuclear waste repository via Deccan Herald

Site will be decided after research over next five years

Half-a-century after launching the nuclear programme, India has finally begun working on a “deep geological repository” to permanently store its nuclear waste.

Over the next five years, scientists are going to study a set of physical and geological parameters required for setting up the nuclear waste storage facility before zeroing in on its location.

The options vary from underground storage in rocky central India to plains where the storage may be housed inside layers of clay.

“We will use an existing underground mine to study conductivity, heat management and percolation and rock stability. The site has to be totally impervious, geologically stable and without any fissure,” Department of Atomic Energy Secretary Srikumar Banerjee said here.

Nuclear waste generated in India so far is too small to deserve a separate repository. But as the country plans an ambitious growth in nuclear power – 63000 MW by 2032 – a waste disposal site would eventually be required.

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