Service project
Safety Case for the disposal of radioactive waste
Radioactive waste is produced in all phases of the nuclear fuel cycle and from the use of radioactive materials in industrial, medical, defense and research applications. Disposal in engineered facilities or repositories, located in suitable geological formations, is being developed worldwide as the reference solution for the long-term management of radioactive waste. Societal agreement for deep geological repositories depends on the confidence that it can protect humans and the environment now and in the future.
The safety of a repository is evaluated and documented in a “safety case” that supports decision making at each stage of repository development. It presents underlying evidence and methods that give confidence in the quality of scientific and institutional processes, as well as in the results of analyses.
On the one hand, we support the Swiss radioactive waste disposal programme and have significantly contributed to the post-closure safety case and underlying reports for the recently submitted general license application for a deep geological repository by Nagra. This license application with its safety report is available in digital form under www.drbg.ch.
On the other hand, Thomas Kaempfer is a core group member of the NEA Integration Group for the Safety Case (IGSC). The IGSC is the main technical advisory body to the NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) on the deep geological disposal, particularly for long-lived and high-level radioactive waste. The mission of the IGSC is to assist member countries to develop effective safety cases supported by a robust scientific-technical basis. In addition to the technical aspects in all developmental stages of repository implementation, the group also provides a platform for international dialogues between safety experts to address strategic and policy aspects of repository development.
Duration: 01.02.2023
Partner:
Nagra, Nationale Genossenschaft für die Lagerung radioaktiver Abfälle, Wettingen, Schweiz
OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)
Team:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Kämpfer
KMN Kompetenzzentrum für Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften
+41 58 257 13 19thomas.kaempfer@ost.ch
