Vital Waste Graphics

30

31

Composition of transboundary waste reported by the Parties in 2000

Mixed waste

Unclassified waste

Household waste

Article 1 (1) b

Metals, asbestos, toxic organic compounds

Non-metalic production waste

3,5 Million tonnes

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

* e.g. Aluminium slag Contaminated soil Sewage sludge.

Source: Basel Convention

Transport of radioactive waste Over 50 countries currently have spent fuel stored in temporary locations, awaiting reprocessing or disposal. Major commercial reprocessing plants op- erate in France, the United Kingdom, and Russian Federation with a capacity of some 5000 tonnes per year. Countries like Japan have sent 140 shipments of spent fuel for reprocessing to Europe since 1979. In October 2004 France took possession of 660 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium from the United States for reprocessing into fuel. Two ships carried the radioactive material from South Carolina to the French port of Cherbourg. It was then loaded onto lorries and driven 18 km to La Hague for the first stage of reprocessing. It is currently at a plant in the south-east France and is expected to be trans- ported back to the United States in 2005.

While reprocessing is an option, others are looking for disposal sites for their nuclear waste. For example the Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) has been negotiating since 1997 to dispose of low-level nuclear waste at a site in North Korea – something that alarms many in the rest of the world. Problems with the environmental safety of the site offered by the North Koreans have slowed prog- ress on the deal.