1SL-8 : Current Status and Future Directions of Synchrotron-Based Research on Used Fuel and Radioactive Waste

Disposal of used Nuclear Fuels and Radioactive wastes is becoming a critical concern in Korea where the decommissioning of nuclear power plants is just around the corner. Improvement in remediation and treatment technologies is now urgently required to reduce the amount of wastes by understanding the complex chemical system composed of various elements. Used fuels are not actually a waste. They contain plenty of artificial elements which can be useful in some specialized applications for the future. Synchrotron techniques such as X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray scattering (XRS), etc. are expected to provide a powerful tool to search for new strategic materials as well as to solve the critical issues in decommissioning and remediation, and safety of the final disposal of the radioactive wastes.