MAIN CONFERENCE DAY ONE | 29 JUNE 2011

8:15 Registration and Coffee

9:00 Opening Remarks from the Chair

Jean-Michel Hoorelbeke
Deputy Programmes Director, ANDRA

9:10 Changing International Guidelines on Interim Storage and Pre-disposal

Monika Kinker
Waste Safety Specialist, IAEA

  • New IAEA guidelines for harmonising the licensing of disposal facilities
    • what developments have there been in decommissioning and site remediation guidelines?
    • why is the IAEA setting a benchmark for harmonisation of international standards?
    • promoting exchange of experience and encouraging common approaches to radiation safety and regulation
  • Making IAEA standards legally binding
    • what is the point of making IAEA standards legally enforceable in the EU?
    • how realistic is global regulatory uniformity and compliance?

 

9:50 Higher Activity Waste Management for the NDA Estate and Optimising Waste Storage*

James McKinney
ILW & HLW National Strategy Manager, NDA*

  • Policy and NDA integrated waste management strategy
    • UK and Scottish government policy on higher activity wastes
    • NDA Strategy II and integrated waste management
  • Storage of higher activity wastes and forward vision for NDA
    • where we are and where do we want to be?
    • introduction to NDA-wide initiatives

10:30 Morning Refreshments

11:00 Delivering UK Interim Storage Through an Integrated Approach

Mark Tearle
Project Manager, MAGNOX NORTH

  • Defining acceptable conditions for long-term storage
    • exploiting industry-wide experiences
    • matching conditions to individual circumstances
  • Demonstrating packages to remain safe throughout storage
    • monitoring approaches, balancing stakeholder needs with operational constraints
    • methods to maintain the disposability of packages
  • Latest status of the UK’s industry guidance on interim storage
    • what is forthcoming in terms of regulation and guidance?
    • managing partnerships with industry associates
    • conclusions from the Integrated Project Team (IPT): where next?

11:40 Planning Interim Storage in Conjunction with a Reversible Geological Repository

Jean-Michel Hoorelbeke
Deputy Programmes Director, ANDRA

  • Planning interim storage as part of a timeframe
    • managing waste for sustained periods knowing the repository will not be available on schedule
    • why the commissioning of a repository in France in 2025 will not suppress needs for interim storage
  • Operational issues in France and planning of the combined interim storage and repository system
    • progressive increase of waste emplacement flow in the repository
    • cost optimization of facility operation
    • HLW thermal decay
    • potential optimisation of interim storage period with regard to underground repository footprint
  • Reversibility and capability of interim storage to accommodate waste packages potentially retrieved from repository
  • The French national rad-waste management plan
    • provision to prepare a global optimisation of waste management
    • development of new interim storage options for the future

12:20 Networking Lunch

1:50 Expectations and Challenges for Prospective Site License Applicants

Steve Griffiths
HM Superintending Inspector
NUCLEAR INSTALLATIONS HSE

  • Regulatory challenges facing the industry
  • Current examples of permissioning approaches to regulate the legacy
    • Sellafield and Magnox reactors
  • What are the expectations of new site licensees?
    • engagement strategies (importance of early engagement)
    • what does a regulator look for in a new license applicant?
    • recent examples of site licensing practice
  • Expectations for regulating the new build programme

 

2:30 Management of spent fuel and radioactive waste in the EU – Proposal for a Council Directive (Euratom)

Christina Necheva
Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management Unit,
EUROPEAN COMMISSION

  • EC approach to establishing European framework on spent fuel and radioactive waste management
  • Impact assessment addressing the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste in the EU:
    • Storage as an important stage in the overall management of spent fuel and radioactive waste
    • Storage as an interim solution, but not an alternative to disposal
  • EC proposal for a Council Directive on the management of spent fuel and radioactive waste
    • Objectives, general principles and obligations
    • National programme for spent fuel and radioactive waste management

3:10 Afternoon Refreshments

3:40 Research Underpinning Confidence in Durability of Waste Containers and Storage Environmental Control Strategies Cristiano

Cristiano Padovani
Corrosion Specialist, RWMD*

  • Phenomenological observations and practical experiences with small scale samples and large scale prototypes
  • Mechanistic understanding of container corrosion and modelling of its long term degradation
  • Identification of storage strategies based on control of environmental conditions
  • Generic studies on container materials for disposal of HLW and, potentially, spent fuel
  • Coordinating work between RWMD, NDA and IPT
  • Future R&D

4:20 Overcoming Challenges of Transport and Reprocessing of Spent Fuel in Germany

Ulrich Alter
FEDERAL ENVIRONMENT
MINISTRY GERMANY

  • What needs to be considered in the shipment of vitrified waste to other countries?
    • is it moving waste for reprocessing, storage or both?
    • coordinating transport and storage mechanisms
    • assessing the risk of fuel breaking up during transport
    • meeting regulatory requirements for transport and monitoring progress
    • volumes of waste transported to other countries
  • Repatriation of waste and subsequent usage
    • how is reprocessed waste assessed and utilised once returned to Germany?
    • reimbursement of other countries for taking waste into storage

 

5:00 Closing Remarks from the Chair and Conference Adjourns