This workshop is organised by the NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) and hosted by the Nuclear and Radioactive Waste Agency (ANDR), Romania.

At the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, implementers have the full responsibility to ensure the safety of radioactive waste management at all stages until the final disposal (all applied options). Implementers conduct thorough safety assessments which support decision making and form the core of a safety case in demonstrating safety.

A safety case is a collection of safety evidence and arguments that demonstrate the safety of a management process or facility throughout its lifetime. While the types of data, calculations and analyses are different for demonstrating safety in various waste management processes, the approach and strategies used to structure safety cases for different back-end processes have aspects in common.

Over the past decades, the RWMC has focused on deep geological disposal. Noting the importance of managing radioactive waste in a holistic and sustainable manner, the RWMC issued a Vision Statement in 2016 stating that its future work focus should extend beyond deep geological disposal. In particular, the RWMC is considering further utilising existing IGSC expertise to gather the essential technical safety information for developing other disposal facilities (near-surface or surface disposal).

The RWMC planned this workshop to better understand how the IGSC's experience on the topic of deep geological disposal and other disposal options can be shared in the development, use and communication of a safety case. The RWMC considers the IGSC experience in integrating and presenting safety evidence in a safety case, identifying and assessing the risks associated with credible scenarios, managing uncertainties, identifying improvement and corrective actions to support key decisions to developing safety cases for other disposal facilities valuable and relevant. Additionally, the RWMC aims to improve its understanding of the use and updating of safety cases during operations by obtaining additional input and information on how safety cases are being used in decision making and communicating with stakeholders at operating near-surface or surface disposal facilities.

The workshop is open to individuals concerned with the geological disposal of radioactive waste, including implementers, regulators, technical and social science researchers, and interested stakeholders.

The objectives of this workshop are:

• to better understand how to build robust safety cases (to enhance confidence) for various disposal options and their similarities and differences;
• to discuss the methodologies and the outcomes that can be shared among deep geological repositories and other types of disposal facilities;
• to review current challenges and identify the activities to be initiated at the NEA to support the development of safety cases for various disposal facilities.

Key dates

Registration

A registration link will be provided prior to the opening registration date on 1 July 2021.

Poster requirements

A poster session will be held in conjunction with the workshop. In line with the workshop's stated aims, topics include experiences, research and development relevant to the safety case for various disposal options such as deep geological disposal, near-surface disposal or surface disposal.

Abstracts (300-500 words) are being solicited for the poster session. The Programme Committee will notify authors of their abstract's acceptance for the poster session. Abstracts must be submitted through the workshop website; please visit the site for full instructions. The deadline for abstracts is 26 November 2021. If an abstract is accepted, supporting documents (maximum 4 pages) must then be submitted by 25 January 2022. They will be published in the final proceedings of the workshop.

Transportation and lodging

• The meeting will take place at the Crowne Plaza Bucharest (Hotel 4*) in Bucharest, Romania.
  • Single Standard Room: EUR 90-100/night
  • Double Standard Room: EUR 100-120/night
• The Crowne Plaza Bucharest is located between the city centre (4 km) and Henri Coandă International Airport (10 km, 15-min drive). Transportation information can be found here.

See also the NEA Feature, Event and Process (FEP) Database.