The UK, like various nations around the world, is looking to increase the proportion of energy it generates through clean technologies such as nuclear power.
It is an ambition that builds on more than decades of pioneering domestic nuclear energy, but there has been slow progress internationally in finding permanent disposal sites for the radioactive wastes produced by reactors that have reached the end of their useful life.
The UK, as an example, has spent 50 years searching for solutions while wastes continue to build up in temporary stores. And communities in North West England, near to the Sellafield nuclear site, are currently engaged in the process of site selection, with disposal expected to take place in rock accessed from the coast but deep beneath the seabed.
The geology in question, the Mercia Mudstone Group, has only recently come into focus as a possible host rock for geological disposal of radioactive waste.
Understanding the behaviour of these formations is a pressing new area that scientists from the University of Plymouth are currently exploring, as part of ongoing research into the role of our coastal environments in decarbonising the economy.
To further this conversation, the University recently hosted a multi-stakeholder technical workshop where colleagues from industry, academia, the British Geological Survey and Government to discuss some elements of these challenges.
In particular, they focused on the geological uncertainties in siting a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) in the Mercia Mudstone, and explored some of the challenges around assuring long-term safely when disposing of radioactive waste in the deep subsurface.
The University’s research in this area is being led by
Dr Matt Bailey , Associate Professor in Engineering Geochemistry, who previously spent several years working in the nuclear research industry.
