Impact of Climate Change on Nuclear Waste Management

The strategic study "CLIMATE: Impact of Climate Change on Nuclear Waste Management" is part of the European Partnership on Radioactive Waste Management (EURAD-2) and runs from October 2024 to September 2026.

The primary objective of this study is to identify knowledge gaps and provide recommendations for future research on the impact of climate change on radioactive waste management (RWM) facilities and sites across Europe. CLIMATE addresses all types of waste and storage systems (low level to high level waste; surface to deep storage). The entire lifetime of the disposal facility will be considered, i.e.,  construction, operation, as well as long-term post-closure phases, while pre-disposal facilities will also be included. A secondary goal of CLIMATE is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of existing regulatory and institutional frameworks on climate change impacts on RWM facilities, identifying gaps and needs while offering recommendations for future actions. Furthermore, CLIMATE aims to foster collaboration with civil society and stakeholders, by integrating societal concerns and insights into the development of climate resilience strategies for nuclear waste management and emphasising the importance of transparent communication as well as stakeholder involvement in the research and implementation process.

Short-term climate scenarios that may impact construction and operational RWM phases include especially extreme events such as extreme precipitation, which can lead to severe floods and landslides, extreme storm events or temperature increases with subsequent higher wildfire risk.

Long-term climate scenarios, which are relevant for the post-closure phase and which could compromise the integrity of radioactive waste repositories over time, include mainly changes in temperature conditions (global warming and global cooling including permafrost development and ice sheet advances), the geomorphological evolution of the region, sea level changes and hydrogeological shifts.

Assessments of these scenarios and their safety relevance are being conducted based on selected cases representing diverse European climate zones as well as different facilities (pre-disposal/processing vs. final disposal) and waste types (low-/intermediate vs. high-level radioactive waste). In the next step, CLIMATE will also make a selection of natural analogues that represent expected/possible future climate conditions to improve safety assessments for the long-term containment of radioactive materials.

As part of the large EURAD-2 partnership, CLIMATE is challenged but mostly enriched by combining different perspectives of all involved actors: waste management organisations (WMO), research entities (RE) and technical support organisations (TSO) as well as civil society organisations. The outcomes of this strategic study will provide valuable recommendations for policymakers, regulators, and the scientific community, contributing to the development of safety-oriented and effective strategies for radioactive waste management in the context of short-term (decades and centuries) and long-term (millenia and longer) climate change.