Brazil’s National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN – Comissào National de Energia Nuclear) said it plans to start work on the Centena (Centro Tecnológico Nuclear e Ambiental) waste repository in 2026. Centena will provide a permanent storage solution for low- and medium-level radioactive waste material with a radioactive half-life limited to 30 years. Centena will not only not only provide permanent storage for radioactive waste but will also include support buildings for operational activities and facilities for research and technological development. The centre will also offer specialised training.
Currently, radioactive waste generated by the Almirante Alvaro Alberto NPP, which brings together the Angra 1 and Angra 2 plants, is stored in warehouses near the plants. This material, which includes contaminated tools and uniforms, is isolated in steel barrels and small containers before being transported to the Waste Management Centre (CGR – Centro de Gerenciamento de Residuos), a complex comprising three warehouses. Currently, it has the capacity to receive additional material only until 2030.
In a clarification response to reports suggesting Angra 1&2 might have to shut in 2030 if there is no new waste storage CNEN said progress was being made following the selection of a preferred site. If there is any delay in the construction and, consequently, in the conclusion of the Centena, nuclear utility Eletronuclear is looking at two possibilities. The first is the reorganisation of the current storage which does not require a new environmental licensing process. The second is construction of another waste storage shed, which would require a new licensing process, both nuclear and environmental.
Financing of the construction and removal of the waste to this final repository … will be provided by the Decommissioning Fund of the Angra 1 and Angra 2 plants, “which was also established for this purpose”. Construction of the new repository facilities will cost approximately BRL130m ($24.2b). CNEN notes that building the repository is a requirement for the environmental licensing process for the Angra 3 nuclear power unit, as well as that for the Brazilian Multipurpose Reactor.
Angra 1&2 currently generate about 3% of Brazil’s electricity. Work on the Angra 3 project began in 1984 but faced a series of delays and is awaiting a final decision on its completion. Construction of the Brazilian Multipurpose Reactor is expected to begin in 2026 with operations scheduled to start in 2031.
The Centena facility will operate for 60 years and undergo monitoring for an additional 300 years after its closure. The facility will undergo several licensing phases before becoming operational. Segregation, characterisation, and treatment of radioactive waste is the responsibility of the waste-generating facility as is transportation to Centena.
On arrival at Centena, documentation will be checked, and initial acceptance tests conducted. The consignment will then be directed to temporary storage, and a sample of the packages sent for radiochemical analyses. For disposal, the waste package will be placed in concrete containers according to a predetermined cargo composition. These containers will be filled with mortar and placed in the disposal modules.
Finally, when the module capacity is complete, the module will be sealed with mortar and a slab, in line with the multi-barrier concept. The engineering barriers are designed to provide the complete confinement of the radionuclides present in the waste for hundreds of years.
