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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.
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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.
Non-metalic
production waste
Metals, asbestos, toxic
organic compounds
* e.g. Aluminium slag Contaminated soil Sewage sludge.
Household waste
Unclassified waste
Mixed waste
Composition of transboundary waste reported by the Parties in 2000
0
0,5
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
3,5
Million
tonnes
Source: Basel Convention
Article 1 (1) b