The primary task of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) is to provide independent scrutiny of the Government’s and Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s proposal, plans and programmes to deliver geological disposal, together with robust interim storage, as the long-term<br/>management option for the UK’s higher activity wastes. In June 2007 the Scottish Executive announced a policy of near-surface, near-site long-term storage rather than geological disposal.

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.

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.

This research report is part of the research programme International Socio-Technical Challenges for Implementing Geological Disposal (InSOTEC; see www.insotec.eu). The research programme is funded by the Seventh Framework Programme Theme [Fission-2010-1.1.2] [Research activities in support of implementation of geological disposal] (Grant agreement no: 269906).

On 29 December 2009, the Spanish government launched a site selection process to host a centralised interim storage facility for spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste. It was an unprecedented call for voluntarism among Spanish municipalities to site a controversial facility. Two nuclear municipalities, amongst a total of thirteen municipalities from five different regions, presented their candidatures to host the facility in their territories. For two years the government did not make a decision.

Screening criteria and specifications are recommended to aid in the evaluation of sites proposed for nuclear waste disposal in basalt and domed salt. The recommended new criteria proposed in this report are intended to supplement existing repository-related criteria for nuclear waste disposal. The existing criteria are contained in 10 CFR 60 sections which define siting criteria of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and ONWI 33(2) which defines siting criteria of the Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation (ONWI) for the Department of Energy.