The entire inventory of high-level nuclear waste (100 tonnes) would be permanently disposed of in a solar orbit at 1.2 AU between Earth and Mars using 10 to 15 launches of the Energia launch vehicle. The waste would be encapsulated; in case of a launch vehicle failure it would be recovered from the equatorial ocean of the earth and sent back into space.

The waste disposal vehicle consisted of two rocket stages. The first, convenional stge, puts the 50 tonne payload into an 800 km parking orbit around the earth. The second 150-200 kWt nuclear electric stage uses an ion engine to transfer the waste to its permanent solar orbit. The net payload of waste per launch would be 9 tonnes.

• 21 - Semenov, Yuri P Editor, Raketno-kosmicheskaya korporatsiya 'Energia' imeni S P Koroleva, Moscow, Russia, 1996.