Disposal of high-level radioactive waste worldwide

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), more than 400.000 tonnes of heavy metal have accumulated in this form worldwide (see Figure 1). However, vitrified liquid waste, for example, which is produced during the reprocessing of spent fuel, must also be disposed of as highly-level radioactive waste. Until this waste can be sent to a repository, it is temporarily stored in various ways (see Figure 1).

Around 30 countries worldwide operate NPPs, but even in countries that do not utilise nuclear power, high-level radioactive waste may accumulate, for example from the operation of research reactors. According to the IAEA, research reactors are operated in more than 70 countries. More than half of the 850 facilities worldwide are in the process of being or have already been dismantled.

International conventions on disposal

There is a broad international consensus among scientists that the safest way to dispose of high-level radioactive waste for good is to emplace it in deep geological formations - not least because geological processes are easy to predict and evolve over long periods of time. The majority of countries, including Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Canada and Russia, are endeavouring to build such a repository. The principle here is to contain radioactive waste at the disposal site in order to isolate it from the biosphere. Most countries are aiming for an isolation period of 100,000 to one million years.

There is a whole series of international conventions and bodies that deal with the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in a broader sense. Of particular note is the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. Its contracting parties - including Germany - have agreed on general safety requirements for the handling of high-level radioactive waste. At the beginning, it states quite generically: “[…] to ensure that during all stages of spent fuel and radioactive waste management there are effective defences against potential hazards so that individuals, society and the environment are protected from harmful effects of ionizing radiation […]”, and in relation to a repository: “[…] before construction of a disposal facility, a systematic safety assessment and an environmental assessment for the period following closure shall be carried out and the results evaluated against the criteria established by the regulatory body”. Review conferences are held every three years at which the signatory countries present their progress and respond to questions from other countries. In addition, nuclear energy states have also agreed on cooperation and certain standards for dealing with high-level radioactive waste as part of the EURATOM Directive.

In addition, international organisations such as the Nuclear Energy Agency within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD NEA) or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEO – Waste Section) promote the development of common technical standards, having established corresponding expert committees.

The aforementioned conventions are general in nature and should be seen as a minimum standard for the handling of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Accordingly, they should only serve as a framework for concrete country-specific regulations and the respective national legislation, as each country has its own individual conditions when it comes to disposal. For example, there may be countries that do not have the geological conditions for a deep geological repository or those that have so little high-level radioactive waste that it does not seem to make sense for them to build their own repository. Longer-term storage may also initially be an option, especially for countries that want to wait and see whether new technologies or utilisation paths for the further use of the waste emerge in the coming years. The decision of the European Commission also plays a role here according to which investments in the nuclear energy sector can, under certain conditions, be categorised as environmentally sustainable economic activities within the framework of the EU taxonomy and thus bring economic benefits.

Disposal worldwide - who is planning what?

Although there is international consensus on the subject of disposal and extensive research is being carried out, no deep geological repository is in operation as yet anywhere in the world. However, Finland, Sweden and, more recently, Switzerland are leading the way in this respect. In the two northern European countries, the decision on a specific site has already been made and in Finland, trial operation - as a functional test for emplacement - is currently underway with waste casks that do not contain any radioactive material. The Swiss National Co-operative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra) has proposed the Nördlich Lägern site, for which it has submitted the application for a general licence. But what do other countries' disposal programmes - or rather their plans for them - look like? What technical options are being investigated and what geological conditions exist on the respective sites? What are the special features of the site selection procedures?

Here, we provide a brief overview of the current status in selected countries, supplemented by “fast facts” to allow an initial comparison. In addition to information on the host rock and the organisations involved, the “fast facts” also include details on the volume of waste to be emplaced. With the exception of Germany, where the quantities of waste have already been determined as a result of the decision to discontinue with nuclear power utilisation, this information should be seen as a snapshot for all other countries. In addition, the individual countries report their waste quantities in varying quality (volume, weight, with/without containers, number of containers, etc.). Unless otherwise stated, the waste volume data we provide are gross volumes including packaging. In other cases, there will be a corresponding note and, where necessary, a reference to the operator's website. The quantities of heavy metals are shown in Figure 1.

Further details on the waste management programmes of individual countries can be found i.a. in the respective country reports of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. 

Germany

After decades of focusing on rock salt as a host rock and the exploration of the Gorleben salt dome in connection with the topic of disposal, the site selection procedure in Germany was relaunched in 2013, i.a. with the establishment of the Commission on the Storage of High-Level Radioactive Waste, and placed on a new footing in 2017 with the Site Selection Act (StandAG). The act provides for the selection procedure to take place in three phases (see here). The Federal Company for Disposal (Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung - BGE) has been tasked with carrying out the procedure. The competent supervisory authority is the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (Bundesamt für die Sicherheit der nuklearen Entsorgung - BASE).

The StandAG stipulates i.a. that the site "that guarantees the best possible safety for one million years" must be chosen. Within this period, people and the environment are to be protected from the effects of radiation. A special feature of the law is the requirements for retrievability and possibility of recovery of the waste. For example, "[...] repository casks that have been emplaced in the repository must be retrievable until the time the repository is decommissioned." Likewise, "[...] sufficient precautions must be taken to ensure that retrieval of the emplaced repository casks is possible during decommissioning and for a period of 500 years after the planned closure of the repository."

Germany has opted for deep geological disposal for the management of its heat-generating high-level radioactive waste. The waste is to be stored in a so-called host rock which, due to its characteristics, is to prevent the spread of radioactive materials or at least contain them in such a way that no risks arise for man and the environment. In Germany, there are fundamentally three possible host rock types for a deep geological repository: salt rock, argillaceous rock, and crystalline rock.

In autumn 2020, BGE presented the Sub-areas interim report. It identifies 90 areas in Germany that have favourable geological conditions for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste and should be investigated further as well as those that have already been ruled out at this stage, for example because mining activities have taken place there. Areas for which no or insufficient geological data is available are to be identified separately and are not excluded per se from the search process.

BGE publishes regular progress reports on the representative preliminary safety assessments. By the end of 2027, individual site regions are to be proposed for surface exploration. 

Switzerland

In September 2022, the National Co-operative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra) proposed the Nördlich Lägern area as a site for a repository in Switzerland. The area has Opalinus Clay as a host rock and is located in northern Switzerland in the Zurich lowlands. According to Nagra, Nördlich Lägern is the site “with the greatest safety margins”. Like Germany, Switzerland has set the assessment period for the deep geological repository at one million years.

In November 2024, Nagra submitted the so-called licence for the deep geological repository for radioactive waste to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE). Among other things, the application sets out the approximate location and size of the main structures.  Once it has been reviewed by the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) and the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Commission (KNS), it will be submitted to the Federal Council and Parliament for a decision. If they approve the application, the Swiss population can call for a referendum. Nagra predicts that the first waste can probably be emplaced in 2050. 

On the German side, the Swiss Deep Geological Repository Expert Group (Expertengruppe-Schweizer-Tiefenlager - ESchT) - among others - has commented on Switzerland's siting decision and considers Nagra's decision to be plausible. 

France

France has decided to dispose of its high-level radioactive waste in a clay formation. The planned disposal site is to be built in the Meuse/Haute-Marne department in eastern France and is located in the immediate vicinity of the municipality of Bure. A rock laboratory is already in operation in Bure and its infrastructure is to be used for the operation of the repository. The future repository, the project named Cigéo, is to accommodate both long-lived intermediate and high-level radioactive waste from all French nuclear installations and from the reprocessing of spent fuel. It is planned to construct the disposal zones at a depth of around 500 metres. They are to be continuously expanded in the course of operation. Separate storage areas are planned for high-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste (see illustration, red and yellow areas). Once the waste has been emplaced - for which a period of more than 100 years is planned - the repository is to be sealed.

The National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra), which reports to the Ministry of the Environment, is responsible for the planning and construction of the repository and the above-ground packaging facilities. 

Finland

The world's first-ever repository for high-level radioactive waste in crystalline rock is currently being built in Finland (Onkalo). The site is located on the island of Olkiluoto in the municipality of Eurajoki on the west coast of Finland and is only a few kilometres away from the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant. At the end of 2021, operator Posiva Oy (a joint venture of the operating companies of Olkiluoto and Loviisa) submitted an application for an operating licence to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Labour.  

Sweden

The repository for spent fuel assemblies is to be built in Söderviken near the Forsmark nuclear power plant in granite rock at a depth of around 500 metres. In a search process lasting decades, all municipalities in Sweden had previously been contacted. Suitable geological conditions and the consent of the local population finally came together in Östhammar. In 2022, the Swedish parliament authorised the construction of the repository. 

The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB), which is owned – amongst others - by the companies operating the nuclear power plants, is responsible for site selection and construction of the repository. SKB anticipates a construction period of 10 years from the start of construction.

Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, Správa úložišť radioaktivních odpadů (SÚRAO) has been entrusted with the search for a deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste. In 2020, following surface exploration of seven potential sites, the government narrowed down the possible locations to four sites in crystalline rock: Hrádek and Horka in the central region of the country, Březový potok in the south-west, and Janoch near the Temelín nuclear power plant. The authorities believe that all of these sites meet the safety requirements for a deep geological repository and are now being investigated in more detail.

In addition, a research and development programme is underway to establish exploration methods, emplacement techniques and construction workflows. The work is being carried out i.a. in the three underground laboratories Bedrichov, Josef, and Bukov. 

Canada

The Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organisation (NWMO) has been entrusted with the search for a repository site. The basis for this is the so-called “Adaptive Phased Management approach”, which takes into account both technical safety and the consent of the local communities concerned. Following a nationwide, voluntary and community-based selection process that had been underway since 2010, the NWMO selected the territory of the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation, in collaboration with the Township of Ignace in the province of Ontario, as the preferred site at the end of 2024. 

The site is located within the crystalline host rock of the Canadian Shield. The submission of an initial project description in early January 2026 marked the start of the formal licensing procedure, which includes an integrated environmental impact assessment and a licensing process.

Other countries at a glance

As of: June 2026