GIS-Based Identification of Potential Optimal Locations for Disposal of Radioactive Waste in Mongolia

Mongolia has no well-developed national radioactive waste management strategy and insufficient infrastructure to manage the existing radioactive waste inventory or the expected future waste arisings. The low- and inter-mediate level of radioactive waste is generated from radioisotope applications in medicine, research, agriculture, geology, mining, and industries. Most radioactive waste is disused sealed radioactive sources which are stored at the long-term storage center. Besides, since the beginning of uranium prospecting in 1945, more than 12 uranium deposits, 100 hundred uranium occurrences, around 1400 anomalies have been discovered within Mongol-Priargun, Gobi-Tamsag, Northern Mongolian metallogenic provinces. Currently, The Badrakh Energy is a responsible for mining company committed to the development of the Zuuvch Ovoo uranium deposit in the Dornogobi region. The Zuuvch Ovoo project is the most advanced uranium mining development project since 2009. The past studies do not focus on the potential optimal locations for the disposal of radioactive waste. The study aims to create a geographic information system (GIS) based analysis to screen all study area of Mongolia to construct the map on the potential optimal locations. The selected criteria founded on international practice are divided into two main data criteria: environmental and socio-economy. These were used in the GIS analysis and were further sub-divided into fourteen parameters. The research employed GIS analysis to provide a practical and spatial component. The paper has not been carried out in Mongolia, and it can be used as a reference point in further study.