Joint Convention Questions Posted to Argentina in 2009
Joint Convention Questions Posted to Argentina in 2009
Joint Convention Questions Posted to Argentina in 2009
Joint Convention Questions Posted to Argentina in 2009
This is the fourth National Report by Australia.1 The 2008 National Report and Australia’s presentation to the Third Review Meeting in 2009 highlighted the following major issues:
• progress on national uniformity;
• progress with development of a national waste classification scheme;
• radioactive waste management policy – achievements, consultation, strategy;
• spent fuel management and management of reprocessing waste;
• decommissioning;
• uranium mining waste management; and
• recruitment and skills management.
This is the third National Report by Australia1. The 2005 National Report and Australia’s presentation to the Second Review Meeting in 2006 highlighted issues as to how each of the nine Australian jurisdictions within Australia’s federal system are complying with the Joint Convention. A challenge identified for Australia in the Rapporteur’s Report for Country Group 3 was “ensuring a coherent approach to regulations and waste management practice in view of the complex nature of national and regional legislation”.
The structure of this National Report complies, to the greatest adjustment possible, with the
Guidelines Regarding the Form and Structure of National Reports approved in the
Preparatory Meeting held in Vienna in December 2001.
Section A includes a general introduction to the report, and a reference to the National
Program which contemplates spent fuel and radioactive waste management and the treatment
of wastes that originate from Mining and Uranium Processing.
Historically, electricity generated in Switzerland came exclusively from hydropower without any recourse to fossil fuels, the latter not being available as a natural resource in the country. In the mid 1950's, an interest in the relatively new nuclear energy technology was manifested to cover an increasing electricity demand. In accordance with the general policy concerning the production of electricity, the promotion and use of nuclear energy was left to the initiative of the private sector.
Joint Convention Responses to Questions Posted to Australia in 2009
History shows that the search for sites for radioactive waste management facilities has been marred by conflicts and delays. Affected communities have often objected that their concerns and interests were not addressed. In response, institutions have progressively turned away from the traditional “decide, announce and defend” model, and are learning to “engage, interact and co-operate”. This shift has fostered the emergence of partnerships between the proponent of the facility and the potential host community, as shown in a recent NEA study.
This report was written within the EU-project InSOTEC (www.insotec.eu) which aims to generate a better understanding of the complex interplay between the technical and the social in radioactive waste management and, in particular, in the design and implementation of geological disposal. In a first step 13 countries have been analysed in order to identify prevailing socio-technical challenges.
Over the past forty years, the development of the technology needed to isolate radioactive waste in underground rock systems has been found to be a formidable problem. This is especially the case in connection with high-level waste (HLW) after its removal from operations in nuclear power plants. There is also the additional problem of isolating low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW).
The first worldwide review of geological problems in radioactive waste isolation was published by the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in 1991 (Witherspoon, 1991). This review was a compilation of reports that had been submitted to a workshop held in conjunction with the 28th International Geological Congress that took place July 9Ð19, 1989, in Washington, D.C.
The report begins with a consideration of the factors which have led to a growth in the use of dialogue processes, a clarification of key concepts and a classification of dialogue processes. A description of recent and current activities in Europe and North America is followed by discussion of the relationship of processes and contexts. This then leads to an identification of the key aims and evaluation criteria which will be used in the design of dialogue processes to be conducted in subsequent phases of the project.
During the 1990s, nuclear waste programmes in nearly every concerned country met many difficulties. Nuclear waste management was seen as a technical issue, and the local communities were only involved in the last stage of the decision-making process when almost all components of the decision were already fixed. The management of high level radioactive waste is now recognised as a complex decision-making process entailing technical, ethical, social, political and economic dimensions where no solution can be reached solely on the basis of technical considerations.
This report aims to clarify the dynamics of socio-technical challenges in the implementation of geological disposal (GD) for High Level Waste (HLW) and Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF). Drawing on the 14 country reports produced within InSOTEC’s WP1 the synthesis focuses on socio-technical challenges that appear across national contexts. The synthesis report elucidates issues made visible through bringing together the analyses of different national contexts.
Many nations and international agencies are working to develop improved technology and industrial capability for nuclear fuel cycle and waste management operations. The effort in some countries is limited to research in university laboratories on treating low-level waste from reactor plant operations.
The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) is the regulatory authority for nuclear safety and security of the nuclear installations in Switzerland. ENSI issues guidelines either in its capacity as regulatory authority or based on a mandate in an ordinance. Guidelines are support documents that formalise the implementation of legal requirements and facilitate uniformity of implementation practices. They further concretise the state-of-the-art in science and technology.
The conceptual part of the sectoral plan for deep geological repositories defines the goals of the federal government in this area and the procedures and criteria to be applied in selecting sites for deep geological repositories for all categories of waste in Switzerland. The focus of the site selection process is on safetybased criteria, with land use and socio-economic aspects playing a secondary role.
Worldwide activities related to the storage of spent (irradiated) nuclear power reactor fuel and highly-radioactive, long-lived wastes are summarized, with a review of the storage programs and plans of 26 nations. The focus of the report is on the application of dry storage techniques to spent fuel, although dry storage of long-lived wastes is also reviewed.
Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, Answers to Questions Posted by the Contracting Parties on the Argentina First National Report