ASME Message

Abstracts
4) 40258 – Management of historical waste legacy at NRG Petten
Renate de Vos, Nuclear Research and consultancy Group (Netherlands)
Since the 1960s, the Waste Storage Facility (WSF) in Petten has been used to store radioactive waste. In 1993, the
Dutch government decided that all nuclear waste should be stored in the central storage facility COVRA (Dutch Central
Organisation for Radioactive Waste). This means that the drums with historical waste must all be opened, their contents
sorted according to intermediate- and low-level radioactivity and subsequently packed for transport to the COVRA
facility.
The intermediate-level radioactive waste processing Unit (HAVA-VU) has been designed specifically for this
purpose.
In this paper an overview will be given of the process of this HAVA-VU project in the last decade. Subsequently
the current status and path forward will be described. Also the chosen solutions for waste processing and characterization
will be discussed.
5) 40031 – Norwegian Support For Regulations Of Radioactive Waste Management From Uranium Mining And
Mill Tailings In Central Asia
Tamara Zhunussova, Malgorzata Sneve, Astrid Liland, Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (Norway);
Alexander Kim, Kazakhstan Atomic Energy Committee (Kazakhstan);
Ulmas Mirsaidov, Tajikistan Nuclear and Radiation Safety Agency (Tajikistan);
Baigabyl Tolongutov, Chui Ecological Laboratory of Kyrgiz Republic (Kyrgiz);
Per Strand, Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, University of Life Sciences (UMB) (Norway)
In Central Asia the radioactive waste comes mainly from uranium mining and milling, nuclear weapon testing and
nuclear power development and other ionizing sources. This waste was produced, to a greater extent, by the
military-industrial complex and the uranium and non-uranium industry, and, to a lesser extent, by the nuclear industry
and in the process of use of isotope products. Exploitation and mining of uranium and thorium deposits produce a large
amount of solid and liquid radioactive waste, as well volatile contaminants which need a proper management. In Central
Asia the wastes are mainly stored at the surface in large piles and represent a long-term potential health and
environmental hazard. The process of remediating legacy sites of the past and reducing the threats is now getting under
way, with the design and implementation of remediation activities, partly with international support. However, there is a
significant lack in the regulatory basis for carrying out such remediation work, including a lack of relevant radiation and
environmental safety norms and standards, licensing procedures and requirements for monitoring etc., as well as
expertise to transform such a basis into practice. Accordingly, the objective of the proposed project is to assist the
relevant regulatory authorities in Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan and Tajikistan to develop national robust and adequate
regulations and procedures, taking into account the international guidance and Norwegian experience in regulatory
support projects in Russia. Specific expected results in the project period include: a threat assessment report identifying
priority areas for regulatory development, based on the status of current regulatory documents and the hazard presented
by the different sites and facilities; development of national radioactive waste management strategies in each country;
development of an enhanced regulatory framework.
SESSION H1: : National and International Programs (1)
1) 40097 – Overview of NUMO's policy for implementing safe geological disposal and developing supporting
technologies
Hiroyuki Tsuchi, Kenichi Kaku, Katsuhiko Ishiguro, Akira Deguchi, Yoshiaki Takahashi, NUMO (Japan)
Based on the Act on Final Disposal of Specified Radioactive Waste (Final Disposal Act), the Nuclear Waste
Management Organization of Japan (NUMO) was established in October 2000 as the implementing organization for
geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. In December 2002, NUMO issued a nationwide call for volunteers to
initiate the siting process. With the revision of the Final Disposal Act in 2007, some types of TRU waste were included
as waste destined for geological disposal and thus fall within the remit of NUMO.
NUMO has been developing the technologies required for implementation of the project and has carried out a range of siting and
performance assessment (PA) activities. However, no application has been received as yet from a volunteer municipality. Together
with the national government, NUMO is now making increased efforts to obtain public acceptance for initiating literature surveys (the
first step in the siting process). In this connection, NUMO decided to prepare a 2010 technical report as a tool for improving the
understanding of the geological disposal project by the stakeholders. The report will present the safety concept that describes how
NUMO aims to achieve safe geological disposal through ca.100-year project and will document the progress made with developing the
technologies that support the safety concept.
Three policies for ensuring safety are followed by NUMO, namely a) staged project implementation and decision making based
on iterative confirmation of safety, b) project implementation based on reliable technologies (or Best Available Technologies - BAT)
and c) technical activities for building confidence in NUMO’s safety concept. One of the highlights of the report is the introduction of
a “roadmap” which includes all project milestones, goals in each stage and main activities for achieving these goals. The roadmap is
-39-