Transparency and Public Participation in Radioactive Waste Management: RISCOM II Final report

Long-term radioactive waste management (RWM) involves large and long-term research and development programmes in essentially all countries with civil nuclear programmes. Such programmes develop through different phases from basic research to more focussed applied research and development (R&D) and finally to the design and siting of proposed solutions. Internationally basic principles for the conduct of these programmes, basic safety principles and guidance on how to comply with them have largely been agreed upon. Experiences from the various national programmes vary and countries are at different stages of developing long-term solutions to their waste problems. There are several examples of significant progress all the way to the siting of a final repository. The most advanced repository programme is the final repository in a salt formation for military long-lived radioactive waste at the WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant) site in New Mexico, USA. This is a case where the siting of a repository has met public acceptance. For high level waste, one site has been selected in Finland, and in Sweden two sites are currently being investigate in detail, with the approval of the affected municipalities.<br/>The siting of radioactive waste installations has, however, also met public opposition in several countries. In the UK, the Government decided in 1997 to refuse the Nirex application to build a Rock Characterisation Facility (RCF) near Sellafield. In France there have been significant problems to find a second site for an underground laboratory. In Germany, even the transportation of radioactive waste meets demonstrations. In Canada it has been officially acknowledged that even if the radioactive waste disposal concept was technically sound, social concerns had not been fully addressed.<br/>