France isn’t only a country known for its cheese… it’s also a country of nuclear power. With its 58 nuclear reactors (63,000 megawatts), producing 79% of the country’s electricity, France is arguably the world’s leader in the production of nuclear energy. It is estimated that the relative contribution of nuclear energy to power production in France will decline to 70% in 2020 - the main reason for this being governmental investments into renewable energies.

Regardless of the outcome of the ongoing debate about the proposed Yucca Mountain geologic waste repository in Nevada, the storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF)—also referred to as “high-level nuclear waste”—will continue to be needed and the issue will continue to be debated. The need for SNF storage, even after the first repository is opened, will continue for a few reasons. <br/>• The Obama Administration terminated work on the only planned permanent geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, which was intended to provide a destination for most of the stored SNF.

This is the Norwegian report to the fourth review meeting to the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (Joint Convention) to be held at IAEA in Vienna, 14–23 May 2012. Norway signed the Joint Convention on 29 September 1997, the day it was opened for signature. The Joint Convention was ratified and deposited on 12 January 1998.

The year 2011 was the year that marked the global nuclear industry and influenced the attitudes and activities of many professional, scientific and commercial organizations and spurred public interest in this branch of industry. Probably the whole world reacted to the natural disaster that struck Japan and damaged the nuclear power plant at Fukushima, Slovakia not excluded.

This report describes the history, recent developments and the current situation of the management of highly radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel in the Czech Republic, with a particular focus on the development of geological disposal for this kind of waste. Special attention is given to the interplay of social and technical aspects of the process. The first chapter gives an overview of the state of affairs and sketches out the trajectories leading to it.

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).

1. Recognizing the importance of the safe management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, the international community agreed upon the necessity of adopting a convention with the objective of achieving and maintaining a high level of safety worldwide in spent fuel and radioactive waste management: this was the origin of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (the “Joint Convention”), which was adopted on 5 September 1997 and entered into force on 18 June 2001. 2.

On January 9, 2012 the Corporation of the Municipality of Brockton expressed interest in learning more about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) site selection process to find an informed and willing community to host a deep geological repository for Canada’s used nuclear fuel (NWMO, 2010). This report summarizes the findings of an initial screening, conducted by AECOM., to evaluate the potential suitability of the Municipality of Brockton against five initial screening criteria using readily available information.