Spent nuclear fuel management options for the UAE

Abstract

The United Arab Emirates is presently formulating a nuclear waste management policy, an element of which relates to the management of spent nuclear fuels, and therefore an analytical assessment of published options is considered timely. This paper considers a suitable assessment methodology and presents a preliminary analysis of four options: reprocessing overseas, take-back by supplier, deep geological repository and deep boreholes disposal. Based on the analysis it is concluded that deep boreholes disposal is the most favourable option for the country. However, all four options have pros and cons and the analysis is sensitive to the sample sets and the sampling group. These issues are discussed further in the paper.