2.7 National
Repository of Radioactive Waste
The National
Repository of Radioactive Wastes is a surface type repository intended for the deposal of
solid and solidified low- and intermediate-radioactive wastes generated during the
operation of nuclear installations and other institutions in the territory of the Slovak
Republic and dealing with activities connected with the generation of radioactive wastes.
The area of the repository is located about 2 km north-west of the NPP Mochovce site.
The fundamental safety requirement for the repository is that no release of radionuclides
into the environment occur during the operation, during the institutional control period
as well as after the completion thereof, that would cause radiation exposure exceeding the
values set by the applicable legal regulations.
The repository has been constructed in a low-permeability, high sorption capacity
geological formation. An artificial layer of compacted clay represents an additional
barrier to radioactivity leakage. A draining system has been constructed between this
layer and the deposition boxes that mouths into monitoring shafts that enable monitoring
of water leaks, if any, from each deposition box. Additional basic engineering barriers
against releases into the environment include concrete structure of the repository,
fiber-concrete container and solidified form of the radioactive wastes.
The repository is protected against meteorological impacts by a hall that secures roofing
of the deposition site throughout the process of disposal until replaced by a final cover.
The repository comprises a system of deposition boxes laid out in two double-rows, with 40
boxes each. The capacity of every box is 90 fiber-concrete containers. The total capacity
of the repository is 7,200 containers with an overall volume of 22,320 m3. The
internal volume of the fiber-concrete containers is 3.1 m3. Compacted and
bitumenized waste is fixed by active or inactive cement matrix.
ÚJD granted its approval for the commissioning in December 1999.
    
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