Fanny Böse

The discovery of nuclear fission nearly a century ago not only caused the production of significant quantities of radioactive materials, but also purposefully brought naturally occurring radioactive substances from the Earth’s crust to the surface through mining. The use of these materials, particularly in nuclear weapons, has profoundly influenced our understanding of the Earth system, driven by the military’s need to study the effects of nuclear explosions. This introduced the alarming possibility of irreversible, severe consequences on a global scale within a very short time frame. Despite their critical significance, radioactive materials are scarcely addressed within the Planetary Boundaries framework. This oversight may stem from the challenge of defining control variables or safe operating spaces for the two most consequential release pathways: nuclear power plant accidents and nuclear explosions. Applying the precautionary principle in this context would advocate for a world free of nuclear weapons and a cautious, well-considered approach to the use of nuclear energy.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, established in 2015, aim to achieve global sustainability by 2030 through the improvement of environmental, social, and economic parameters. However, unlike earlier concepts such as the Agenda 21 of 1992, the SDGs overlook radioactive waste management and related challenges of radiation itself. First, we investigate the historic consideration and unexplained disappearance of radioactive waste in earlier sustainability concepts. Then, we propose amending seven SDGs to address this gap. For SDGs 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 14 (Life Below Water), and 15 (Life on Land), new or revised indicators should monitor the release of hazardous materials. SDGs 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) require additional targets and indicators to integrate international cooperation and social implications of nuclear facilities' operation. Redefining “hazardous waste” in SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and “environmentally sound technologies” in SDG 17 is necessary to encompass radioactive waste. Implementing these changes demands statistical efforts, but the existing monitoring infrastructure, particularly in Europe and North America, can facilitate this. As 2030 approaches, it is crucial to reintroduce radioactive waste management into sustainability agendas, whether within the SDGs themselves or in a subsequent framework.

This report summarizes the findings of a workshop held at the safeND Research Symposium and hosted by the German Federal Office for the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (BASE) in Berlin in September 2023. The workshop aimed to channel perspectives from various fields of expertise to discuss key sustainability concepts in terms of radioactive waste management. Therefore, the report highlights that current sustainability concepts, such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as well as the concept of Planetary Boundaries, neglect challenges arising from the production and storage of human-made radioactive materials. The workshop consisted of three group tasks. The first attempted at identifying the interrelations between “sustainability” and radioactive waste management. The second was to map the global nature of the challenges. The third took first steps to determine a human-made radioactive material as a potential planetary sub-boundary for “novel entities”. All three groups identified valuable knowledge gaps that should be addressed by future research and concluded that radioactive waste management is underrepresented in these sustainability concepts.

Within the context of climate change mitigation plans for investments into new nuclear power plants are spreading. While several non-nuclear countries plan first light-water nuclear plants, countries such as the US invests several billions of dollars into the development of so called non-light water reactor technologies within climate and energy policy context. Furthermore, the potential role of nuclear power in future energy systems has emerged as an important and controversial topic. However, there is no comprehensive coverage to assess the techno-economic state and perspectives of proposed reactor technologies. The here presented is carried out on two levels: On an aggregate level of energy and climate scenarios, the paper reviews the role of nuclear power in long-term energy scenarios as such scenarios shape visions and expectations about future energy systems and thus influence policy makers. On the disaggregate level, we synthesize techno-economic aspects of potential new nuclear power plants differentiating between three different reactor technology types: light-water cooled reactors with high capacities (in the range or above 1,000 MWel), so-called SMRs (“small modular reactor”), i.e., light-water cooled reactors of lower power rating (< 300 MWel) (pursued, e.g., in the US, Canada, and the UK), and non-light water cooled reactors (“so-called new reactor” (SNR) concepts), focusing on sodium-cooled fast neutron reactors as well as high-temperature reactors. We find that nuclear power potential plays a highly contrasting role in energy scenarios from steep nuclear scale up to an end of commercial operations, which shows the need of further research for underlying assumptions and potential expert biases. Actual development further shows an industry in decline and, if commercially available, lacking economic competitiveness in low-carbon energy markets for all reactor types. Literature shows that other reactor technologies are in the coming decades unlikely to be available on a scale that could impact climate change mitigation efforts. The techno-economic feasibility of nuclear power should thus be assessed more critically in future energy system scenarios.