Title: Comparing policy, regulations and institutions for geological disposal of radioactive waste and carbon dioxide

Authors: Deepak Sharma; Suchi Misra; Muyi Yang

Addresses: Centre for Energy Policy (CEP), Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia ' Centre for Energy Policy (CEP), Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia ' Centre for Energy Policy (CEP), Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia

Abstract: This paper compares the policy, regulatory and institutional (PRI) settings of Radioactive Waste (RW) and Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) disposal for selected countries. This comparison is premised on the following arguments: (a) the policy/political acceptance of nuclear power and coal power with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology to redress the climate change challenge will be essentially determined by the efficacy of the PRI settings; and (b) the existing discussion on these technologies is largely neglectful of the significance of these settings. The comparison suggests that: (a) while the overall PRI settings for RW and CO₂ disposal are generally fuzzy, discordant and fragmented, they are relatively well defined for RW disposal than for CO₂ disposal; and (b) PRI settings for RW and CO₂ disposal cannot be analysed in isolation from broader settings for nuclear and coal-CCS power, and - more importantly - in isolation from macro-level energy, economic, environmental and socio-political policy settings.

Keywords: geological disposal; radioactive waste; carbon dioxide; carbon capture and storage; CCS; CO2; carbon storage; carbon disposal; policy; regulation; institutions; comparative analyses; policy-regulatory-institutional settings; socio-polity; nuclear waste; waste disposal; nuclear energy; nuclear power.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGEI.2014.065534

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2014 Vol.37 No.1/2/3/4, pp.146 - 187

Published online: 30 Apr 2015 *

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