Abstract. EURAD, the European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management (RWM), is the European Research Programme on RWM, aimed at supporting member states with the implementation of their national programmes. It brings together over 100 organisations from different backgrounds and countries, which work together in RD&D projects, Strategic Studies and Knowledge Management (KM). The importance of KM is recognised by EURAD and reflected in a number of activities. One essential activity is the capture of the current State-of-Knowledge in the field of RWM and its transfer to the implementation of the different national programmes. This is done by different types of Knowledge Documents that are made available through a dedicated IT tool (e.g. a Wiki). The development of the individual EURAD KM documents is performed by recognised experts. These experts will share their view on the most relevant knowledge on a specific topic, highlighting safety functions and operational aspects. Additionally, signposting to pre-existing documents is performed (State-of-the-Art Documents, Scientific Papers, etc.). The hierarchy of the works for the KM documents (Theme Overview, Domain Insight, State-of-Knowledge, Guidance) is closely linked to the generic EURAD Roadmap/GBS (Goals Breakdown Structure). It provides a hierarchical structure that facilitates definition, organisation and communication of topics. All of this allows knowledge to be captured and presented with the level of detail that is required by the end-user, from a broad overview down to an increasing level of detail (pyramid of knowledge). To ensure the quality and consistency of the documents with the overall EURAD KM approach, quality assurance and editorial procedures are applied. Collection of end-user feedback will aid the optimisation and further development of the KM activities. To facilitate the transfer of knowledge, the EURAD KM programme goes beyond documents and strives to facilitate exchange between people and signpost to other resources, such as Training and Mobility activities (also organised by EURAD Work Package 13 Training & Mobility) or Communities of Practice. All these activities will contribute to a useful and end-user-friendly EURAD KM programme that is designed to be operational well beyond the runtime of EURAD-1. This presentation will provide further insight into the approaches, status of work and an outlook on future activities that will support member states with the implementation of their national programmes.
<p>According to the 'Act on the Organizational Restructuring in the Field of Radioactive Waste Disposal' the BGE was established in 2016. The amended 'Repository Site Selection Act' (StandAG) came into force in July 2017 and forms the base for the site selection by clearly defining the procedure. According to the StandAG the BGE implements the participative, science-based, transparent, self-questioning and learning procedure with the overarching aim to identify the site for a high-level radioactive waste (HLW) repository in a deep geological formation with best possible safety conditions for a period of one million years.</p><p>The German site selection procedure consists of three phases, of which Phase 1 is divided into two steps. Starting with a blanc map of Germany, the BGE completed Step 1 in September 2020 and identified 90 individual sub-areas that provide favorable geological conditions for the safe disposal of HLW in the legally considered host rocks; rock salt, clay and crystalline rock. Based on the results of Step 1, the on-going Step 2 will narrow down these sub-areas to siting regions for surface exploration within Phase 2 (&#167; 14 StandAG). Central to the siting process are representative (Phase 1), evolved (Phase 2) and comprehensive (Phase 3) preliminary safety assessments according to &#167; 27 StandAG.</p><p>The ordinances on 'Safety Requirements' and 'Preliminary Safety Assessments' for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste from October 2020 regulate the implementation of the preliminary safety assessments within the different phases of the siting process. Section 2 of the 'Safety Requirements' ordinance provides requirements to evaluate the long-term safety of the repository system; amongst others, it states that all potential effects that may affect the long-term safety of the repository system need to be systematically identified, described and evaluated as &#8220;expected&#8221; or &#8220;divergent&#8221; evolutions. Additionally, the ordinance on 'Preliminary Safety Assessments' states in &#167; 7, amongst others, that the geoscientific long-term prediction is a tool to identify and to evaluate geogenic processes and to infer &#8220;expected&#8221; and &#8220;divergent&#8221; evolutions from those. Hence, considering the time period of one million years for the safe disposal of the HLW and the legal requirements, it is essential to include long-term climate evolution in the German site selection process to evaluate the impact of various climate-related scenarios on the safety of the whole repository system.</p><p>To better understand and evaluate the influence of climate-related processes on the long-term safety of a HLW repository, climate-related research will be a part of the BGE research agenda. Potential research needs may address i) processes occurring on glacial &#8211; interglacial timescales (e.g. the inception of the next glaciation, formation and depth of permafrost, glacial troughs, sub-glacial channels, sea-level rise, orbital forcing) and their future evolutions, ii) effects on the host rocks and the barrier system(s) as well as iii) the uncertainties related to these effects but also to general climate models and predictions.</p>
Knowledge about a wide variety of aspects is fundamental for the safe management and disposal of radioactive waste. This importance of Knowledge Management (KM) is also recognised by EURAD, the European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management (RWM), which brings together over 100 organisations from different countries and backgrounds (Waste Management Organisations, Technical Support Organisations, and Research Entities). This vast resource of expertise and experience feeds into several dedicated EURAD KM programme activities. One of these activities, led by Work Package 11 State-of-Knowledge (WP11 SoK), is capturing experts’ views on the current State-of-Knowledge on topics relevant to RWM and making this knowledge accessible through dedicated documents. For this, EURAD has developed the “Goals Breakdown Structure” (GBS), which provides a framework in which topics are structured thematically, as well as a hierarchy of documents that allows accessing knowledge on different levels of detail (see EURAD Roadmap). To make this knowledge available, EURAD is currently developing a Wiki (i.e., a web-based resource that allows access to knowledge and collaborative interactions) and is drafting a sustainable Knowledge Management System and other supportive KM-IT tools while already feeding the tools with content. This article gives an insight into the general EURAD KM concept, the approaches used, and the results obtained until EURAD’s mid-term, after 2.5 years.
Decisions associated with Radioactive Waste (RW) Management programmes are made in the presence of irreducible and reducible uncertainties. Responsibilities and roles of each actor, the nature of the RW disposal programme and the stage in its implementation influence the preferences of each category of actors in approaching uncertainty management. UMAN (UMAN – Uncertainties Management Multi-Actor Network is a Work Package of the European Radioactive Waste Management Programme – EURAD) carries out a strategic study about the management of uncertainties based on extended exchanges among actors representing Waste Management Organisations, Technical Support Organisations, Research Entities and Civil Society, a review of knowledge generated by past and ongoing R&D projects, and findings of international organisations. UMAN discusses the classification schemes and approaches applied in uncertainty management, and identifies possible actions to be considered in the uncertainty treatment. The relevance for the safety of the uncertainties associated with waste inventory, including spent fuel, near-field, site and geosphere and human aspects, as perceived by each type of actors, and approaches used in their management are explored with the aim to reach either a common understanding on how uncertainties relate to risk and safety and how to deal with them along the programme implementation, or at least arrive at a mutual understanding of each individual view. Finally, uncertainties assessed as highly significant and the associated R&D issues that can be further investigated are being identified.
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