SECIGD

Secretariat of the Implementing Geological Disposal Technology Platform

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'European Council outlined in its Decision 2006/976/EURATOM a need for 'Implementation-oriented R&D activities on all remaining key aspects of deep geological disposal'. Waste implementers (WMOs) in Europe initiated a technology platform Implementing Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste (IGD-TP) to foster, to promote and to accelerate the implementation of geological disposal. The mission of the IGD-TP is to be a tool to support confidence-building in the safety and implementation of deep geological disposal solutions. IGD-TP derives from EC FP-projects Net.Excel and CARD. The IGD-TP is in line with the EC strategies and goals to implement waste management solutions in Europe as a part of the SET-PLAN. Moreover, IGD-TP is not only beneficial for the safe implementation of the first facilities but also for the waste programmes with longer implementation time frames. A majority of the countries with nuclear have active waste programmes, but current status, implementation times, and the challenges differ. Sweden, Finland and France are the readiest for implementation and plan to start licensing disposal facilities in few years. After the CARD project, eight implementers BE, FI, FR, DE, ES, SE, CH, UK acted on the CARD recommendations and initiated activities needed to set-up the IGD-TP. An interim executive group was formed to direct the work to produce a vision document and to launch the IGD-TP in 2009 under the Swedish Presidency. The IGD-TP needs administrative support to be of European value-added. A secretariat is a necessary contribution to the daily management of the IGD-TP and for acting as an open information centre on the platform activities, and for stakeholder participation. The Secretariat supports the preparation of the Strategic research agenda (SRA) and contributes in an efficient manner to operations of the platform (the agreed vision, the SRA, and its deployment plan). It maintains a public website where e.g. progress reports and announcements for future events are published in support of exchange among the members and other stakeholders, and fosters consultation and cooperation on projects. The dissemination of the work results of IGD-TP to all stakeholders is needed. The secretariat acts closely with the Executive Group of the IGD-TP, WMOs, centres of competence in RD&D and other stakeholders participating in its operations, since there is a joint awareness of the need of cooperation on challenges related to geological disposal.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

An EU-funded project has established a secretariat to support a European Technology Platform (ETP) for developing technology behind the final geological disposal of nuclear waste that is highly active and/or long-lived.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The European Commission introduced the ETPs to provide a framework for stakeholders to prioritise and develop strategically important issues. The technology platforms ensure that important areas of research that are highly relevant to industry receive sufficient funding.

ETPs therefore address technological challenges that in the future can contribute to key policy objectives and help safeguard the European Union's competitiveness. The objectives include sustainable development, new technology-based public goods and services, maintaining a lead in new technology, and the restructuring of traditional industries.

The Implementing Geological Disposal of radioactive waste Technology Platform (IGD-TP) was established to support the final disposal of nuclear waste in deep geological formations. The 'Secretariat of the implementing geological disposal technology platform' (SecIGD) project set up a secretariat to support the IGD-TP and to maintain the intranet for IGD-TP participants and the public webpage.

With the support of the secretariat, IGD-TP was able to publish the founding documents of the technology platform for public consultation. The documents included the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA 2011) and the final draft of the Deployment Plan.

The SecIGD project also organised two public exchange forums, project meetings and meetings for the IGD-TP's Executive Group and SRA. SecIGD and the IGD-TP's Executive Group members engaged in around 60 dissemination activities, contacting 13 000 people. In addition, the initiative produced three reviewed conference papers.

SecIGD contributed to the success of the IGD-TP by ensuring stakeholder support, a focus on research funding and the meeting of technological challenges. In addition, it has helped to develop a common European view on the management and disposal of nuclear waste.