NEA Mandates and Structures


Expert Group on Archiving for Radioactive Waste Management Activities (EGAR)

Chair(s): Jozsef I. FEKETE, Hungary
Secretary:  Morgan PACKER
(morgan.packer@oecd-nea.org)
Member(s):All NEA member countries*
Russia (Suspended*)
*Russian Federation suspended pursuant to a decision of the OECD Council.
Full participant(s): European Commission
Under the NEA Statute
Observer(s)(International Organisation): International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
By agreement
Date of creation:10 September 2020
End of mandate:30 September 2024

Mandate (Document reference):

  • Mandate of the Working Party on Information, Data and Knowledge Management 2020-2022 [NEA/RWM(2019)9/FINAL]
  • A New Initiative on Information, Data and Knowledge Management (IDKM) Terms of Reference [NEA/RWM(2019)8]
  • Summary record of the Kick-Off Meeting of the Working Party on Information, Data and Knowledge Management (WP-IDKM) [NEA/RWM/IDKM/M(2020)1]
  • Mandate of Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory (RK&M) across Generations – Phase II 2016-108 [NEA/RWM(2016)6/PROV]
  • Sub-Group Reporting to the Parent Committee Document [NEA/CDLM/RWMC(2019)2]
  • Update of the Mandate of the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) Following the Creation of the Committee on Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations and Legacy Management [NEA/NE(2017)14]
  • The Information, Data and Knowledge Management Roadmap [forthcoming]
  • Mandate of the Working Party on Information, Data and Knowledge Management 2020-2022 [NEA/RWM(2019)9/FINAL]
  • A New Initiative on Information, Data and Knowledge Management (IDKM) Terms of Reference [NEA/RWM(2019)8]
  • Summary record of the Kick-Off Meeting of the Working Party on Information, Data and Knowledge Management (WP-IDKM) [NEA/RWM/IDKM/M(2020)1]
  • Mandate of Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory (RK&M) across Generations – Phase II 2016-108 [NEA/RWM(2016)6/PROV]
  • Sub-Group Reporting to the Parent Committee Document [NEA/CDLM/RWMC(2019)2]
  • Update of the Mandate of the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) Following the Creation of the Committee on Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations and Legacy Management [NEA/NE(2017)14]
  • The Information, Data and Knowledge Management Roadmap [forthcoming]
  • Mandate of the Expert Group on Archiving for Radioactive Waste Management Activities (EGAR) [NEA/RWM/IDKM(2020)4/FINAL]
  • Mandate of the Expert Group on Archiving for Radioactive Waste Management Activities (EGAR) [NEA/RWM/IDKM(2022)5/FINAL] and [NEA/RWM/IDKM(2022)10/FINAL]

Mandate (Document extract):

Extract from document NEA/RWM/IDKM(2022)5/FINAL

Background

Radioactive Waste Management (RWM) is a discipline that requires long-term thinking in order to preserve records and information for both future generations of workers and societies. Such long-term thinking relies on archiving for keeping records, making archiving essential to RWM activities.

The term “archiving” describes different sets of activities with a similar objective: the preservation of records and data, dealing with the following:

  • Storage of records in a national, thematic, or private archive to ensure long-term preservation; and
  • Storage of digital information with the aim of keeping the information intelligible in the future by emulation, or migration and updating of file formats as hardware and software develops (digital preservation).

Different goals may influence the means of archiving legacy data and records that, even if they are no longer actively used, continue to be important for RWM activities and need to be retained for future reference in accordance with regulatory compliance.

Scope

The EGAR will consider the archiving needs of RWM-related activities both for shorter term, operational period archiving and longer-term archiving needs, tools and processes. This includes all types of records that a radioactive waste management organisation (RWMO) can place in archives, including paper-based documents, objects such as borehole samples, and digital records, digitised documents and “data born-electronic”, sound recordings, films, etc. The scope of work includes both archiving of records which are no longer expected to be used during the repository lifetime but could be important in the future (for example, upon decision of future generations to retrieve the waste), and preservation of records that are no longer actively used but will likely be needed in the near future of the repository programme (for example, for the compilation of the next safety case).

For the EGAR, archiving is considered as the act of sending a record to an archive or place of deposit in accordance with relevant national legislation or other considerations, and also in the technical meaning of the term, as a means of preserving digital records to ensure continued accessibility. The EGAR will consider the archiving needs and processes of both regulators and RWMOs.

Objectives

In 2020, the Working Party on Information, Data and Knowledge Management (WP-IDKM) established a third-level Expert Group on Archiving for Radioactive Waste Management Activities (EGAR). The EGAR will support RWMOs in their efforts and research in archiving, recommending feasible, resource-saving standards, methods and tools, while considering various roles of archiving under various repository phases.

The EGAR will:

i. prepare recommendations for archiving procedures that complement RWM activities with view to existing national or other regulations, as well as formulate a set of recommendations to improve accessibility to archived information;

ii. perform further work already carried out on record selection and the Set of Essential Records (SER) [1] by:

a. testing and improving the SER methods and techniques (through their application to existing RWM sites, preferably under different site phases),

b. extending the SER scope to also include RWM data,

c. expanding the SER to include sets of regulator records and data, and

d. further investigating procedures on record updating, versioning and storing.

iii. clarify how the SER is situated in the overall IDKM process for a repository and its relation to other key data management and preservation approaches of the WP-IDKM (e.g. data modelling for the Safety Case or long-term awareness preservation); and

iv. prepare recommendations to improve standardisation of RWM-related archiving activities.

To support these primary activities, the EGAR will also identify any relevant secondary activities to be pursued.

Working methods

The mode of operation of the EGAR is based upon plenary meetings and an ongoing, project-oriented working programme.

A Bureau consisting of a Chair and one or more Vice-Chairs will co-ordinate and facilitate the work of the EGAR. The Bureau will normally meet once or twice a year, with one meeting normally held in conjunction with the annual EGAR plenary meeting.

Communication within the EGAR will primarily take place through annual plenary meetings. The plenary meeting is devoted to:

  • the exchange of information on recent developments in member countries;
  • in-depth discussions of current developments and topical issues, where additional specialists may also be invited;
  • the identification of main outcomes/insights to be reported to the WP-IDKM; and
  • the discussion and coordination of the working programme, including the evaluation of possible collaboration with other projects in and outside of the NEA, in particular with other expert groups of the WP-IDKM.

The EGAR will report to the WP-IDKM at the annual meetings of the working party.

Additionally, the EGAR will: (i) identify resources (including funding) and schedules for its activities; and (ii) review the programme of work and its effectiveness.

In fulfilling its mandate, the EGAR will be supported by the staff of the NEA Division of Radioactive Waste Management and Decommissioning (RWMD). 

Membership

The EGAR is a task-oriented expert group that is composed of a diverse range of experts in the field of archiving in RWM, decommissioning and non-related fields from NEA member countries, e.g. engineers and scientists in RWMOs, decommissioning and other technical domains involved with data and information management, knowledge managers and social scientists involved in knowledge management on extended timescales (hundreds of years).

Interactions

The work of the EGAR will be complementary to that of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Commission (EC). As such, the group will continue to co-operate with its relevant counterparts and provide relevant input to the activities of these institutions, as appropriate.

Through the RWMC and Secretariat, the EGAR will co-operate with the NEA standing technical committees and their subsidiary bodies when relevant, in particular those of the Committee on Decommissioning of Nuclear Installations and Legacy Management (CDLM) to identify (i) interfaces between the groups and (ii) overlaps and common issues. It may also collaborate with the NEA Data Bank.

In particular, the EGAR will take into account the following NEA publications and reports:

Deliverables

The EGAR will produce appropriate reports, presentations and workshops with the support of the Secretariat.

 


[1] As described in the NEA publication Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory (RK&M) Across Generations. Compiling a Set of Essential Records for a Radioactive Waste Repository” [NEA publication 7423].