Publications

The Nuclear Energy Agency carried out an independent peer review of Japan's siting process and criteria for the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste in May 2016. The review concluded that Japan's site screening process is generally in accordance with international practices. As the goal of the siting process is to locate a site -- that is both appropriate and accepted by the community -- to host a geological disposal facility for high-level radioactive waste, the international review team emphasises in this report the importance of maintaining an open dialogue and interaction between the regulator, the implementer and the public. Dialogue should begin in the early phases and continue throughout the siting process. The international review team also underlines the importance of taking into account feasibility aspects when selecting a site for preliminary investigations, but suggests that it would be inappropriate to set detailed scientific criteria for nationwide screening at this stage. The team has provided extensive advisory remarks in the report as opportunities for improvement, including the recommendation to use clear and consistent terminology in defining the site screening criteria as it is a critical factor in a successful siting process.

Peer reviews are a standard co-operative OECD working tool that offer member countries a framework to compare experiences and examine best practices in a host of areas. The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) has developed a proven methodology for conducting peer reviews in radioactive waste management and nuclear R&D. Using this methodology, the NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee’s Working Party on Decommissioning and Dismantling (WPDD) developed the present guide as a framework for decommissioning cost reviewers and reviewees to prepare for and conduct international peer reviews of decommissioning cost estimate studies for nuclear facilities. It includes checklists that will help national programmes or relevant organisations to assess and improve decommissioning cost estimate practices in the future. This guide will act as the NEA reference for conducting such international peer reviews.

An important activity of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in the field of radioactive waste management is the organisation of independent, international peer reviews of national studies and projects. This report provides an international peer review of the long-term safety strategy and assessment being developed by the Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials, ONDRAF/NIRAS, as part of the licence application for the construction and operation of a surface disposal facility for short-lived, low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste in the municipality of Dessel, Belgium. The review was carried out by an International Review Team comprised of seven international specialists, all of whom were free of conflict of interest and chosen to bring complementary expertise to the review. To be accessible to both specialist and non-specialist readers, the review findings are provided at several levels of detail.

Sweden is at the forefront among countries developing plans for a deep geological repository of highly radioactive waste. There is no such repository in operation yet worldwide, but Sweden, Finland and France are approaching the licensing stage. At the request of the Swedish government, the NEA organised an international peer review of the post-closure radiological safety case produced by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) in support of the application for a general licence to construct and operate a spent nuclear fuel geological repository in the municipality of Östhammar. The purpose of the review was to help the Swedish government, the public and relevant organisations by providing an international reference regarding the maturity of SKB’s spent fuel disposal programme vis-à-vis best practices in long-term disposal safety and radiological protection. The International Review Team (IRT) consisted of ten international specialists, who were free of conflict of interest with the SKB and brought complementary expertise to the review. This report provides the background and findings of the international peer review. The review’s findings are presented at several levels of detail in order to be accessible to both specialist and non-specialist readers.

The renewed interest in nuclear energy – to a large extent stimulated by concerns about global climate change, high volatility of fossil fuel prices and security of energy supply – has also revived discussions on advanced reactor concepts with the potential to reduce significantly the long-term radioactivity of nuclear waste. One of these concepts is an accelerator-driven system (ADS) which combines a particle accelerator with a subcritical reactor core. The Belgian research centre SCK•CEN at Mol has launched a project aiming to construct an ADS consisting of a high energy proton, linear accelerator combined with a lead-bismuth-cooled, subcritical reactor. The project is called MYRRHA (Multi-purpose Hybrid Research Reactor for High-tech Applications).

The Belgian government asked the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) to organise an international peer review of the MYRRHA project to provide an independent evaluation as part of the decision-making process. This report presents the findings from the review, which was conducted by a team of seven high-level experts from seven countries, assisted by the NEA Secretariat.

For many politicians and members of the public, the very long life of some of the radio-nuclides in radioactive waste is an issue of particular importance in terms of its ultimate disposal. The developing techniques of partitioning (isolating specific radioactive elements) and transmutation (re-irradiating them in order to convert them to shorter-lived or stable elements) hold the promise of eliminating or greatly reducing the long-lived radioactivity, bringing with it other technical benefits.

In France, the 1991 Waste Act required inter alia a research and development programme on partitioning and transmutation, with a milestone for review in 2006. The French authorities requested the OECD/NEA to organise an independent, international peer review of the results of this extensive research and development programme, with a view to help inform the parliamentary decision-making process on the way forward for radioactive waste disposal in France. This report presents the findings from that review, which was conducted by ten of the foremost international experts in the field.

Nuclear regulatory self-assessment together with the benchmarking of regulatory practices against those of other countries operating nuclear power plants are key elements in maintaining a high level of nuclear safety. In that light, the Spanish Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (CSN) formally asked the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) to establish an international peer review team to assess the CSN report on the lessons learnt as a result of the 2004 Vandellós II event involving essential service water system degradation.

The International Review Team considers the CSN report prepared in follow-up to the Vandellós event to be a commendable effort in regulatory self-assessment. The report, complemented by this international peer review, should enable the CSN to take appropriate action to ensure that its regulatory supervision is in line with best international practice.

A major activity of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) in the field of radioactive waste management is the organisation of international peer reviews of national studies and projects. The peer reviews help national programmes assess accomplished work. The general comments expressed in the reviews are also of potential interest to other member countries. The present review was carried out to inform the French Government whether the "Dossier 2005 Argile" prepared by the National Agency for the Management of Radioactive Waste (Andra) was consistent with international practices and whether future research needs were properly identified.

International peer reviews as a working method is closely associated with OECD practice, where it is facilitated by the homogeneous membership and the high degree of trust shared by the member countries. International peer reviews of national radioactive waste management programmes, or of specific aspects of them, have been increasingly carried out over the past ten years. This document lays down the guidelines that the requesting country, the Secretariat and the international review team ought to have in mind when an international peer review is requested, organised or carried out.

La revue internationale par des pairs est un outil de travail étroitement lié aux pratiques de l'OCDE, dont l'emploi est facilité par l'homogénéité de ses pays membres et par la grande confiance qui règne entre eux. Des revues internationales par des pairs de programmes nationaux de gestion des déchets radioactifs, ou de certains de leurs aspects spécifiques, ont été réalisées de façon croissante depuis les dix dernières années. Ce document décrit les lignes directrices dont le pays demandeur, le Secrétariat et l'équipe internationale d'experts doivent tenir compte lorsqu'une revue internationale par des pairs est demandée, organisée ou réalisée.

Studies are under way in Switzerland to investigate various aspects of the geological disposal of radioactive waste. This report presents the results of the international peer review organised by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (BFE) of a post-closure radiological safety assessment prepared by Nagra for geological disposal of spent fuel (SF), vitrified high-level waste (HLW) and long-lived intermediate-level waste (ILW) within the Opalinus Clay of the Zürcher Weinland in northern Switzerland.

This report presents the common views of the International Review Team established by the NEA Secretariat on behalf of the Belgian Government to perform a peer review of the SAFIR 2 report, produced by the Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials (ONDRAF/NIRAS) to describe the research, development and demonstration activities in the Belgian programme on the disposal of high-level and long-lived radioactive waste in a deep geological repository excavated within an argillaceous formation.

This report presents the conclusions of the International Review Team established by the NEA Secretariat at the request of the French government to perform a peer review of the Dossier 2001 Argile. The latter was produced by the French National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (Andra) to describe the research, development and demonstration activities in the French programme on the disposal of high-level and long-lived radioactive waste in a deep geological repository excavated within an argillaceous formation.

The Department of Energy of the United States of America (USDOE) has been studying the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada for more than 15 years to determine whether it is a suitable place to construct an underground repository for US spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste of commercial and military origins. A number of performance assessments have been carried out over the past decade by the USDOE, the latest of which is the Total System Performance Assessment supporting the site recommendation process (TSPA-SR) of December 2000. This report presents the results of the jointly organised NEA-IAEA international peer review of the TSPA-SR, performed upon the request of the USDOE. The review was carried out by a team of ten international specialists.

This report presents the common views of the International Review Team established by the NEA Secretariat on behalf of the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI) to perform a peer review of a post-closure safety study of a deep repository for spent nuclear fuel in Sweden, Safety Report 97, produced by the Swedish Spent Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB).