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 the context of the governance of nuclear activities, especially in the field of the radioactive waste management, the self-structuring of civil society is a necessary condition of the citizens’ action. The experience of French “Commissions Locales d’Information” (CLIs) and their national federation the “Association Nationale des Commissions Locales d’Information” (ANCLI) represent an interesting and original example of local actors empowerment. In France, Local Information Commissions (CLI) are attached to most of the nuclear sites.
This book is the result of a collaboration that began over two years ago between researchers from the social sciences and Andra engineers and natural scientists. Contributions to the various chapters have been discussed and enhanced, especially during the workshop and the interdisciplinary conference both held by Andra in 2008 and 2009<br>respectively.
The case study presented in this document was carried out in the framework of the second work package (influence of local actors on national decision-making processes) of the European research project COWAM 2. The study aims at analysing the process of independent assessment of the research programme of the French National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (ANDRA), commissioned to the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) by the Local Committee of Information and Monitoring (CLIS) associated to the underground research laboratory of Bure.
Waste management operation began in France in 1969. Created in 1979 as an agency within the CEA, ANDRA was established by the December 1991 Waste Act as an independent public body in charge of the long-term management of all radioactive waste, under the supervision of the Ministries in charge of Energy, Ecology, and Research. Its 3 basic missions were extended and their funding secured through the 2006 Planning Act (www.andra.fr).
This case study was carried out in the framework of the second work package (influence of local actors on national decision-making processes) of the European research project COWAM 2. The study aims at identifying and analysing the strategies and influence mechanisms implemented by the local actors of Dunkirk in order to influence the process of elaboration of the 30th July Law on the prevention of natural and technological risks. This case study was carried out using, on the one hand, a desk study and, on the other hand, a participative methodology involving a working group.
The European project COWAM in Practice (CIP) was aimed to lead for three years (2007-2009) a process of monitoring, analyzing and evaluating the governance linked with radioactive waste management. This project, in cooperation with a research group and stakeholders, was conducted in parallel in 5 European countries (Spain, France, United Kingdom, Romania, Slovenia).
This research brief presents the economic development associated with the laboratory for a deep geological repository for high activity radioactive waste situated in the municipality of Bure. It has been described in the framework of the first topic in the project COWAM In Practice (CIP), i.e. the sustainable territorial development associated with radioactive waste management.
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (the Act), established a step-by-step process for the siting of the nation's first repository for high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel. The Act gave the Department of<br/>Energy (DOE) the primary responsibility for conducting this siting process.
This paper is a response to a request from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) for CoRWM’s advice on the 2011 review of options for accelerating the geological disposal programme carried out by the Radioactive Waste Management Directorate (RWMD) of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
CoRWM’s remit is to provide independent scrutiny and advice to Government on the long-term management, including storage and disposal, of radioactive wastes and materials that may be declared to be wastes. This is the first of three reports to be produced in 2009 that describes the results of the Committee’s scrutiny work in 2008 and the first part of 2009 and provides advice to Government.
This is the seventh CoRWM Annual Report. It summarises the outcomes of CoRWM’s scrutiny and advice work during the year. It also contains the Committee’s views on the current status of arrangements and plans for the long-term management of higher activity radioactive wastes in the UK. All the Committee Members have contributed to this Report and I am grateful to Marion Hill and the Secretariat for all their hard work in compiling it.
This is the eighth CoRWM Annual Report. It summarises CoRWM’s scrutiny and advice for the financial year ending on 31 March 2012. It also contains the Committee’s views on the status of arrangements and plans for the long-term management of higher activity radioactive wastes in the UK at June 2012.
Explanation of Radioactivity and Radioactive waste
The objective of the National Insights was to develop as far as possible “a historical and strategic vision of the radioactive waste governance” for participants of a same country. While decision-making processes in radioactive waste management very often remain technically driven, there is a need to put forward and give substance to a more open and inclusive decision-making process. The notion of governance is often used to label this type of decision-making process.
The purpose of COWAM2 Work Package 4 (WP4) on "e;long term governance"e; was to identify, discuss and analyse the institutional, ethical, economic and legal considerations raised by long term radioactive waste storage or disposal on the three interrelated issues of: (i) responsibility and ownership of radioactive waste over long term, (ii) continuity of local dialogue between stakeholders and monitoring of radioactive waste management facilities, and (iii) compensation and sustainable development.
The long-term governance of radioactive waste is complex socio-technical issue. The disposition of radioactive waste is decided on ethical grounds, having to take into account a variety of other dimensions (society, economy, ecology, politics, time, space, and technology). Thereto, a study of variants is required. Decision theory, in principle, takes diverse options as a starting point begin as the basis of a decision.
This document develops further the questions offered to stakeholders in the Berlin Meeting (see Appendix). It describes mechanisms that local stakeholders can use to influence national decision-making processes in radioactive waste management.
CIP (Community Waste Management In Practice) is a research action gathering a wide spectrum of stakeholders from five European countries, interested in how society should manage the radioactive wastes that result from nuclear power production and/or from medical, military or industrial applications.
The purpose of COWAM2 Work Package 4 (WP4) on "e;long term governance"e; was to identify, discuss and analyse the institutional, ethical, economic and legal considerations raised by long term radioactive waste storage or disposal on the three interrelated issues of: (i) responsibility and ownership of radioactive waste over long term, (ii) continuity of local dialogue between stakeholders and monitoring of radioactive waste management facilities, and (iii) compensation and sustainable development.
Andras goal of Sustainability
As nuclear power assumes an increasingly important role in meeting the nation's requirements for electrical energy, the quantity of radioactive wastes will also increase. The wastes of primary concern -<br/>designated "high-level" and "alpha" wastes - contain radioactive nuclides that decay so slowly as to require that they be isolated from the biosphere for thousands of years.
