Information, data and knowledge management (IDKM) has been acquiring a more important role in society for the past decade. In many sectors of modern society the management of significant volumes of information, data and knowledge – including its creation, treatment, transfer and preservation – has become important. Worldwide, IDKM specialists are currently working on tackling the challenges created by this transformation, leading to an explosion of new tools, approaches and standards which increase the value of data and information. If properly applied these have the potential to bring remarkable benefits to radioactive waste management (RWM) as well.
RWM is very intensive and demanding in the area of IDKM due to the extended duration of national programmes, the volume of interrelated information, data and knowledge produced, and the need to preserve it for the very long term. These challenges do not only apply to the present day, but to wider societal and human factors in the future. Indeed, IDKM on the long timescales of RWM requires great efforts not only from the technical point of view, but also from the social and human points of preserving radioactive waste repository memory.
For these reasons, the NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) has demonstrated commitment in this area. Under its auspices, the Expert Group on Waste Inventorying and Reporting Methodology (EGIRM), the Radioactive Waste Repository Metadata Management (RepMet) initiative and the Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory (RK&M) across Generations initiative have developed valuable products related to IDKM within the field of RWM. Following the successful completion of these initial activities, the RWMC is considering the creation of a new working group dedicated to IDKM in the RWM field. This would extend the objectives of the previous groups to holistically cover all RWM phases from cradle to grave while preserving the awareness of disposed wastes and its repository for future generations.
RWMC had organised the IDKM workshop with the following scope:
The workshop was open to IDKM specialists in RWM and non-RWM fields, including engineers and scientists in RWMOs involved with data and information management, and knowledge managers and social scientists involved with knowledge management on extended timescales (up to hundreds of years).
The IDKM workshop took place on 22-24 January 2019 in the NEA offices in Boulogne-Billancourt (Paris), France.
The IDKM workshop was structured into six sessions. Each session had a chair and included time for a summary discussion.
