Slovakia wants to store dismantled reactors underground. It still sees spent fuel as a resource for reprocessing

Like Czechia, Slovakia is planning to build a deep geological repository for nuclear waste. Politicians and officials mention five sites, but in practice they have already narrowed the selection down to two main ones. The entire process is even less transparent and more protracted than in Czechia.

The storage and disposal of radioactive waste in Slovakia is handled by the state-owned joint-stock company JAVYS. It is also responsible for preparing the future deep geological repository. High-level radioactive waste and all spent nuclear fuel are stored long-term at the Integral Storage Facility (IS RAO) in Jaslovské Bohunice. Low- and intermediate-level waste from the operation and decommissioning of nuclear power plants is disposed of at the National Repository (RÚ RAO) Mochovce.

According to information from the journal Jaderná energie (published by Centrum výzkumu Řež s.r.o., author’s note) and the newsletter of the Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (SÚRAO), JAVYS’s Czech counterpart, the first studies on a deep geological repository in Slovakia were prepared in the early 1990s. They were followed between 1996 and 2001 by a deep geological repository development programme, which resulted in the proposal of five prospective sites. Slovenské elektrárne, which had been responsible for the repository until then, was privatised in 2004. JAVYS became its successor organisation, and in 2010 it was tasked by Slovakia’s Ministry of Economy with continuing the programme.

Unlike Czech SÚRAO, JAVYS, whose sole shareholder is Slovakia’s Ministry of Economy, also handles the treatment of radioactive waste before disposal, including sorting, incineration, compaction, cementation and vitrification. JAVYS also operates an interim spent-fuel storage facility in Jaslovské Bohunice. In contrast, all interim storage facilities in Czechia fall under ČEZ.

Spent fuel as a resource

While the operating lives of nuclear reactors in Czechia have not yet ended (the Dukovany units are currently expected to be shut down around 2035 to 2037, after fifty years, author’s note), Slovakia is already dealing with this issue. According to a JAVYS representative, discussions are also under way on whether spent nuclear fuel should be placed in a deep geological repository at all.

“We do not currently consider spent nuclear fuel to be radioactive waste, but a usable resource that can be reprocessed,” said Miriam Žiaková, JAVYS’s head of communications, adding that it is a strategic raw material. “The question, therefore, is whether the high investment in the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel in a deep geological repository would be effective, and whether we should instead focus on building it solely for the disposal of intermediate- and high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plant decommissioning processes,” Žiaková elaborated.

In Czechia, by contrast, the prevailing official view is that the fuel will be permanently disposed of underground, because reprocessing is, at least for now, too economically demanding and makes no sense. Today’s reactors are not designed for it. Moreover, waste remains even after reprocessing, albeit in smaller volumes.

According to Žiaková, the matter in Slovakia should be clarified as part of the process of updating the “National Programme for the Management of Spent Nuclear Fuel and Radioactive Waste”, which should also include a new economic analysis of the entire project. “Once it is approved, we want to and will primarily discuss it with the public and representatives of the affected municipalities,” Žiaková said in response to the objection that, unlike in Czechia, the Slovak public has not yet been involved in the project. The programme falls under the remit of the National Nuclear Fund, which nevertheless referred Ekonews back to JAVYS with its questions.

From five sites to two

In Slovakia, in terms of host rock, both granite and claystone are being considered for the deep geological repository. However, according to Slovakia’s Ministry of Environment, no research into the technical design of a deep geological repository has taken place in the country since 2001.

Unlike in Czechia, the sites considered in Slovakia are not linked to a specific municipality, but to areas between several municipalities. JAVYS and Slovakia’s Ministry of Environment speak of five sites: the central part of the Tríbeč Mountains, the southern part of the Veporské vrchy, the south-western part of the Stolické vrchy, the eastern part of the Cerová vrchovina and the western part of the Rimavská kotlina.

However, as early as 2014, JAVYS division director Miroslav Božik, who still works at the company, said the following on Slovak Radio’s Radiožurnál programme: “It has currently been narrowed down to two sites. It should be either the Rimavská kotlina or the Tríbeč Mountains.” JAVYS also stated that exploratory boreholes had already been drilled at the two most promising sites.

According to Žiaková, the selection of the final and backup sites should be completed by 2030 and definitively confirmed by 2038. Construction of the deep geological repository is still expected to be completed by 2064. It is scheduled to begin operation in 2065. By 2025, a “series of expert and supporting activities” should still take place. This includes, for example, geological work involving exploratory boreholes and the development of the project design. One of the biggest current challenges, it is said, will be drawing up a “detailed plan for the decision-making process that also takes into account the involvement of all affected stakeholders”.

As Slovakia’s Ministry of Environment points out in its responses to Ekonews, unlike in Czechia, Slovakia has not yet even set a statutory fee for the disposal of radioactive waste.

Lack of transparency

There are not many non-governmental organisations and activists in Slovakia that have the deep geological repository on their agenda, unlike the long-standing Platform against the deep geological repository in Czechia, a non-profit association of municipalities and civic groups. Ekonews managed to contact two experts dealing with different aspects of nuclear energy in Slovakia. Both agree that the whole process is not being well managed, at least in relation to the public.

Peter Mihók of CEPTA (Centre for Sustainable Alternatives) is particularly troubled by the low transparency of the entire process. “Slovakia has a problem with access to information. He also sees from the Czech experience that the more the issue is discussed, the more problematic it becomes. Outwardly, it looks as though we are behind Czechia, but behind the scenes the selection has effectively already been narrowed down to two sites. Yet minutes from meetings where this would have been discussed are missing,” Mihók says.

Michal Daniška, director of the civic association “Chceme zdravú krajinu”, is even more intensively involved in nuclear issues. However, he is primarily occupied with protests against the processing and treatment of radioactive waste from abroad and organising a petition on the issue.

“We devote less intensive attention to the issue of the deep geological repository also because the project is effectively frozen in Slovakia. The main objections of the Chceme zdravú krajinu civic association concern the level of transparency and the timely and effective involvement of the public in the decision-making process, the design of the implementation scheme and, above all, the fact that failing to address the final part of the fuel cycle in Slovakia runs contrary to the principle of not burdening future generations,” Daniška writes, adding that they do not insist on a deep geological repository as the solution, but demand that the final stage be addressed intensively.

Exporting “it” somewhere else

Žiaková of JAVYS also notes that the stance on Slovakia’s participation in an international repository project must be reassessed, as this is reportedly still one of the options being considered. Former prime ministers Andrej Babiš and Peter Pellegrini have, for example, spoken of a “Czechoslovak” project.

Slovakia’s current Prime Minister Eduard Heger also returned to the idea of international cooperation at the recent European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF). “Joint action is also essential when seeking a solution for deep geological disposal of nuclear waste. Whenever we proceed together, we find the most effective solution,” Heger told cameras.

However, SÚRAO spokeswoman Martina Bílá confirmed to Ekonews that radioactive waste cannot be imported from abroad under Czech law. “Our legislation does not allow it, and it is practically the same in all other countries,” she said.

Slovakia’s Ministry of Environment adds further uncertainty to the matter, stating that no joint research project has ever been pursued at the technical level, nor has the development of a joint repository been considered. “Although Slovakia has declared an interest in an international repository, this is not a joint project with Czechia,” the ministry’s press department said.

No deep geological repository is yet operating anywhere in the world. Finland, however, is expected to open one as early as next year. Sweden, France and Switzerland are also at an advanced stage of constructing deep geological repositories for nuclear waste. None of these countries has shown any interest in foreign nuclear waste.

Republished from EkoNews.cz, a website covering business and sustainability.