Actinides and the Environment (NATO Science Partnership Subseries: 2, 41)

The handling of actinides and actinide-based materials provides significant technological challenges due to the toxicity and radioactivity associated with these materials. These challenges are particularly apparent in the nuclear power industry. Under normal operation, a reactor can produce a significant amount of spent fuel requiring subsequent containment for geologic times, and under accident conditions it can release lethal doses of radioactive material to the environment. Inevitably, radioactive material will enter the environment, necessitating as complete an understanding as possible of its behavior. An understanding of the interaction between actinides and the environment must be based on a knowledge of their basic physical and chemical properties. To date, although there is general agreement on the principles for waste disposal, no facility has been built for the long term disposal of high level radioactive waste from either normal reactor operations or from accidental catastrophes. This makes it most important for the scientific and technical community to develop the necessary cross-disciplinary understanding that will help us implement safe and secure waste management, accident remediation and accident prevention systems.