Phosphogypsum, a byproduct of phosphate fertilizer production, poses significant environmental challenges due to its large volume, hazardous composition, and radioactivity. Conventional disposal methods, such as stockpiling and landfilling, contribute to soil and water contamination and present risks to human health. This article explores the potential of integrating phosphogypsum into a circular economy framework, focusing on reducing environmental impacts and extracting value from this industrial waste. A detailed assessment of phosphogypsum’s chemical composition, including trace metals and radionuclides, is essential for effective management. This review paper examines safe handling, storage, and disposal strategies to minimize environmental risks. Additionally, innovative reuse applications are investigated, such as incorporating phosphogypsum into construction materials like cement, plasterboard, and concrete and its use in agriculture as a soil amendment or for land reclamation. The recovery of critical elements, particularly rare earth elements (REEs), highlights its potential to reduce waste and contribute to meeting the growing demand for strategic resources. Despite its promise, challenges remain, including chemical variability and the presence of radioactive components. This article identifies the technological and regulatory steps required to enable safe, large-scale reuse of phosphogypsum, emphasizing its role in advancing sustainable resource management within a circular economy.

Throughout the world, and especially in the European Union, numerous technologies for the thermal treatment of radioactive waste are available or being developed. These technologies can be applied to a large range of different radioactive waste streams, including non-standard types of waste that present specific waste management challenges. Thermal treatment can result in a significant reduction in volume and hazard, which are beneficial for safe storage and disposal. Thermal treatment also removes organic material that can form complexing agents and increase the mobility of radionuclides in the landfill. In the paper, basic thermal techniques are presented, and some examples of the installations are shown. Common knowledge of these methods may result in an increased public acceptance of nuclear energy in a country just introducing it, as Poland is.

Since the beginning of the nuclear industry, graphite has been widely used as a moderator and reflector of neutrons in nuclear power reactors. Some reactors are relatively old and have already been shut down. As a result, a large amount of irradiated graphite has been generated. Although several thousand papers in the International Nuclear Information Service (INIS) database have discussed the management of radioactive waste containing graphite, knowledge of this problem is not common. The aim of the paper is to present the current status of the methods used in different countries to manage graphite-containing radioactive waste. Attention has been paid to the methods of handling spent TRISO fuel after its discharge from high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR) reactors.

Rare earth elements (REEs) are considered vital raw materials for the economy and are on the European Union’s list of critical raw materials (CRMs). Europe is mainly dependent on REE imports. This dependence could be reduced if locally available primary or secondary resources would be processed. In Poland, there are, for instance, over 5 million metric tons of phosphogypsum (PG), a fine powdery byproduct from the fertilizer industry, available near the former Wizów Chemical Plant near Bolesławiec. This material that is considered a waste in Poland contains significant amounts of REEs that could theoretically be recovered and contribute to Europe’s economy. This work is the first systematic analysis of REE leaching studies with sulfuric acid and PG from Wizów. Process parameters such as temperature, particle size, concentration of the leaching solution, and the addition of oxidant and reductant agents were tested to determine the most efficient process. Ultimately, a leaching efficiency of 99% was obtained. Lanthanum exhibited the highest leaching efficiency at almost 100%, followed by Yttrium, Neodymium, Terbium, and Dysprosium. The results of the laboratory experiments are promising and suggest that larger pilot or commercial experiments can be performed next.

In light of the increasing demand for energy sources in the world and the need to meet climate goals set by countries, there is growing global interest in high temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGRs), especially as they are known to be inherently safe nuclear reactors. The safety of HTGRs results, among other, from the nature of the nuclear fuel used in them in the form of coated TRISO particles (tri-structural-isotropic) and the reduction of the total amount of radioactive waste generated. This paper reviews numerous methods used to ensure the sustainable, feasible management and long-term storage of HTGR nuclear waste for the protection of the environment and society. The types of waste generated in the HTGR cycle are presented as well as the methods of their characterization, which are important for long-time storage and final disposal. Two leading nuclear fuel cycle strategies, the once-through cycle (direct disposal or open cycle) and the twice-through cycle (recycling or partially closed cycle), are discussed also in relation to TRISO spent fuel. A short review of the possibilities of treatment of TRISO spent nuclear fuel from HTGR reactors is made.