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.

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.

This paper summarises the history of RWM in Hungary, with a special attention to changing decision making approaches, social conflicts, and socio-technical challenges. First the institutional background of RWM is outlined. Next, efforts to build facilities for the management of low- and intermediatelevel waste (L/ILRW) and high-level waste (HLW) are summarized. This is followed by the short description of remaining socio-technical challenges. Finally, changes in decision-making approaches and tools are analysed.

Russia and Norway have signed contracts worth 100 million rubles ($2.9 million) to develop a system to deal with radioactive waste at the Andreeva Bay storage facility near Murmansk, the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said Tuesday.

In Hungary the use of atomic energy is governed by law (Act CXVI of 1996 on atomic energy, hereafter Atomic Act). In accordance with this Act, the control and supervision of the safety of applications is in the hand of the Government. The legal frame divides the basic regulatory tasks between the director-general of the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) and the minister in charge of health.

Joint Convention Answers on Questions to Hungary in 2009

Joint Convention Questions Posted to Hungary in 2006

This report was prepared in the context of Work Package 3 of the InSOTEC project. The overall objective of this work package (WP) is to take a closer look at arenas where socio-technical combinations on radioactive waste management (RWM) are formed. The attempt is to illustrate the interconnections between the sources of different types of information and knowledge development with the various stakeholders having access to that information.

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.

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.

The Republic of Hungary was among the first to sign the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (hereafter Convention), established under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on 29 September 1997, and ratified it on 2 June 1998. The Convention was promulgated in Act LXXVI of 2001. In order to fulfill the obligations of Article 32 of the Convention the present National Report has been prepared and submitted.

The Republic of Hungary was among the first to sign the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (hereafter Convention), established under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on 29th September 1997, and ratified it on 2nd June 1998. The Convention was promulgated in Act LXXVI of 2001. In order to fulfil the obligations of Article 32 of the Convention the present National Report has been prepared and submitted.

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.

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 Republic of Hungary was among the first to sign the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (hereafter Convention), established under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency, on 29 September 1997, and ratified it on 2 June 1998. The Convention was promulgated by Act LXXVI of 2001 [I.11].