2009 Report to Government on National Research and

NDA R&D for Geological Disposal
3.17 RWMD was established in 2007 when Nirex was subsumed in<strong>to</strong> NDA. It will be
developed in<strong>to</strong> a delivery organisation <strong>to</strong> implement geological disposal. The plan
is for RWMD <strong>to</strong> become a wholly-owned subsidiary of NDA and then <strong>to</strong> become
an SLC at a late stage in the process of GDF siting. RWMD has 70 employees
and a <strong>to</strong>tal annual budget of £15-20M, of which the R&D components are 10
employees and about £3M. The RWMD Head of Research sits on NDARB.
RWMD is also represented on NWRF. CoRWM understands that NDA is setting
up an independent geological disposal advisory panel answering <strong>to</strong> NDARB and
the RWMD Executive. The terms of reference and membership of the panel have
not yet been made public. The panel will publish an annual report of its findings
(CoRWM doc.2630).
3.18 In June 2008, RWMD put forward a Proposed R&D Strategy (NDA, 2008c) for
consultation. Feedback from CoRWM (CoRWM doc. 2408), stakeholder
meetings and other written responses led <strong>to</strong> a revised strategy, which is being
produced as two separate documents. The first document, issued in March <strong>2009</strong>,
details the high level strategy and structures within the NDA for geological
disposal R&D (NDA, <strong>2009</strong>b). The second document will detail the planned R&D
programme. It has not yet been published by RWMD, so scrutiny of it will form
part of CoRWM’s future work programme. In its response <strong>to</strong> the 2008 NDA R&D
strategy document, CoRWM identified a number of areas where substantive
research will be required (CoRWM doc. 2408) and some of these are described
in Section 6 and Appendix A of this report.
3.19 RWMD’s high level R&D strategy document defines its remit as (NDA, <strong>2009</strong>b):
“<strong>to</strong> carry out R&D <strong>to</strong> support a national strategic need <strong>to</strong> support safe and
secure geological disposal. We therefore commission applied research and
development, targeted <strong>to</strong> fulfil specific needs in support of RWMD’s
objectives. We call this needs-driven R&D.”
3.20 RWMD will define an applied R&D programme that is needs-driven and focused
on construction of the GDF and preparation of an accompanying safety case.
RWMD expects <strong>to</strong> fund any applied research required <strong>to</strong> underpin
implementation of its programme. Certain aspects of this may be supported
through the DRP, where skills development is a primary driver. This is similar <strong>to</strong>
the approach for other NDA R&D, which is split between the DRP and the SLCs.
3.21 RWMD recognises the importance of external review of its R&D and is
developing a process <strong>to</strong> ensure this is carried out. CoRWM has had the
opportunity <strong>to</strong> comment on RWMD’s developing proposals, and understands
RWMD is now augmenting its management system arrangements for review of
deliverables <strong>to</strong> ensure the related guidance is sufficiently robust.
R&D in the NDA’s Strategy Management System
3.22 The NDA’s Strategy Management System (SMS) was set up in 2008. It will be
used <strong>to</strong> build up the next NDA Strategy from a series of “<strong>to</strong>pic strategies”, and <strong>to</strong>
ensure consistency with the strategies of each of the NDA’s sites (CoRWM doc.
2418; NDA, <strong>2009</strong>c). There will be several <strong>to</strong>pic strategies for higher activity
CoRWM Document 2543, Oc<strong>to</strong>ber <strong>2009</strong> Page 31 of 151