Vaalputs is the only

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...

-disposal facility, called the ''Vaalputs Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility'', operated by

NECSA The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) was established as a public company by the Republic of South Africa Nuclear Energy Act in 1999 and is wholly owned by the State. The name is correctly indicated above, although the sequence of ...

. The facility is located about 100 km south-east of Springbok, in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

. It covers an area of approximately 10,000 hectare, measuring 16,5 km from east to west and 6,5 km from north to south at its narrowest point. Approximately 1,000 hectare is occupied by sites developed for low- and intermediate-level waste, an interim spent nuclear fuel storage facility, housing, roads, power lines and an airstrip. Vaalputs lies between the Namaqualand in the west and the

Bushmanland Bushmanland (Boesmanland in Afrikaans) may refer to: * Bushmanland (South West Africa), a bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia) * Bushmanland, Northern Cape Bushmanland is an arid area south of the Orange River and west of Kenhar ...

in the east. During 1978 a programme to select a suitable site for the disposal of nuclear waste was commenced over large parts of South Africa. The programme leader had to keep a variety of socio-economic and geology related parameters in mind. Pioneer investigations indicated that the Northern Cape was the most feasible area. Supplementary studies showed that a place approximately 100 km southeast of Springbok was ideally suited for the disposal of low- and intermediate-level wastes. In 1983 three farms were acquired by the state on behalf of the NECSA, which now constitute the ''Vaalputs Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility''. The first low- and intermediate-level waste arrived from

Koeberg Koeberg nuclear power station is a nuclear power station in South Africa. It is currently the only one on the entire African continent. It is located 30 km north of Cape Town, near Melkbosstrand on the west coast of South Africa. Koeberg ...

in October 1986. Initially, silos were envisaged for dry storage of spent fuel from Koeberg. However the spent fuel from Koeberg is stored in reactor pools on the Koeberg site. These pools have been re-racked in order to facilitate lifetime storage of spent fuel. Low and intermediate waste was buried in 10 meter deep trenches, which were filled with compacted soil, whereafter the surface was rehabilitated by planting local flora. In June 1997 it was revealed that some uncovered containers had rusted and were leaking radioactivity. The

National Nuclear Regulator The NNR's CEO, Bismark Tyobeka, and NRC sign bilateral arrangements for cooperation at the 58th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (2014) in Vienna, Austria. The National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) of South Africa is resp ...

(NNR) temporarily suspended operations, until the licensing conditions were met by the operators. The NNR established communication with local communities in September 2003.

References

External links

Vaalputs nuclear waste repository staff doing SA proud
* ttp://www.eskom.co.za/nuclear_energy/waste_re-racking/waste_re-racking.html Escom Nuclear Waste {{South African nuclear sites South African nuclear sites Radioactive waste repositories Buildings and structures in the Northern Cape Economy of the Northern Cape

See also

References

External links