Nuclear waste is a type of radioactive waste. Nuclear material is defined as “plutonium, enriched uranium, natural uranium, depleted uranium, the isotope uranium-233, thorium, and any material containing one or more of these substances”. Spent reactor fuel (fuel that has been irradiated in a reactor and has been taken out of the reactor) makes up the bulk of nuclear waste. Unirradiated material is also included if it is defined as waste. Radioactive waste is waste containing radioactive substances that exceed the limits in the “Regulations on the Application of the Pollution Act to Radioactive Pollution and Radioactive Waste”. The waste may contain man-made radioactive sources or naturally occurring radioactive substances (NORM). Waste containing less radioactive substances than the limits in the regulation is not classified as radioactive waste. Thus, there is no requirement that the handling must comply with the requirements for radioactive waste. An exception is acid-forming rocks such as alum shale. Examples of radioactive waste can be: waste from hospitals waste from research industrial radiation sources ionic smoke detectors waste from industries that use large amounts of natural raw materials such as the petroleum industry and mining industries

Sending nuclear waste into space is technically challenging, environmentally hazardous and in violation of international agreements, therefore the focus is on the safe storage and management of nuclear waste on Earth.

The central government has assumed responsibility for cleaning up after the Norwegian nuclear program and pays for the cleanup over the state budget with annual appropriations. In 2020, NOK 576 million will be allocated for the cleanup/operation of nuclear waste/nuclear facilities. The total cost estimate for the cleanup is NOK 21 billion, but there is great uncertainty about what the costs will be. Preliminary estimates are as follows: Decommissioning of the facilities: approx. NOK 7 billion Treatment of spent nuclear fuel: approx. NOK 4 billion Storage of all radioactive waste — approx. NOK 10 billion

Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND) is a government agency subordinate to the Ministry of Industry and Fisheries. The agency was established in 2018, and has an office in Halden. Our task is to decommission the Norwegian nuclear facilities and clean up the sites so that they are free of all traces of nuclear activity and freed for other uses. NND will also manage Norwegian nuclear waste and other radioactive waste for the good of current and future generations and find a safe, secure and long-term solution for the disposal of the waste.

A warehouse is meant to be temporary. A landfill is meant to be permanent. A landfill works in practice as a warehouse with the same requirements for monitoring, but once the landfill is sealed it should provide safe storage without any monitoring or maintenance for “perpetual time” or as long as waste is still radioactive. That could mean a period of several 100,000 years for some types of waste.