Technischer Bericht NTB 08-06

Based on the description of the "Model Inventory for Radioactive Materials MIRAM 08” (status 31.12.2007), this report documents the inventory of already existing and future arisings of radioactive wastes and materials in Switzerland. 

The objective of MIRAM 08 is to quantify and comprehensively characterise all waste that already exists and will arise in the future. This will allow well founded data to be provided as input to safety analyses and planning of the facilities and operation of deep geological repositories. 

The report comprises: 

• the description of the structure of MIRAM 08 divided into waste types,
• the methods for characterising and inventorying radioactive wastes,
• a summary of waste volumes and inventories for future nuclear energy scenarios,
• a graphic representation of the evolution of volumes and inventories of various waste categories up to the end of their production and for a subsequent time period of one million years and
• waste type reports covering the entire spectrum of Swiss waste: this is based on a scenario assuming a 50-year operating lifetime for the existing Swiss NPPs and a collection period up to 2050 for waste from medicine, industry and research (MIR waste).

MIRAM 08 is based on the "Information System for Radioactive Materials ISRAM”, which compiles the waste into waste package types and individual additional documentation for each waste package produced. Chapter 2 describes how this information is used to generate the 142 MIRAM 08 waste types covering the entire spectrum of radioactive wastes in Switzerland.

Chapter 3 describes the characterisation and inventorying of the defined waste categories in MIRAM. This work provides the background for the material and nuclide declarations for the waste types. To allow a uniform presentation of the material inventory, a standard material list is defined into which all raw material data are transformed.

Chapter 4 deals with the structure and scope of declaration of the waste type reports. The reports contain information on waste type (raw waste) and origin, waste package hull, changes in volume, material and nuclide inventory, radiotoxicity, dose rate and heat production, surface/mass ratios and information on radiolytic gas production. The trend with time of the most important characteristics is also presented graphically.

Chapter 5 presents the total volumes of Swiss radioactive wastes for the "reference scenario” assuming a 50-year operating lifetime for the existing NPPs and a collection period up to 2050 for MIR waste. An estimate is also made of additional waste volumes and nuclide inventories to be expected for the case where the existing NPPs are operated for a further 10 years and for a potential scenario with new nuclear and research installations.

Chapter 6 closes with graphs showing the development in volumes, inventories and radiotoxicity of the waste over the duration of waste production and a time period up to one million years.