IGSC - Integration Group for the Safety Case

Countries that rely on nuclear energy and materials have an ethical obligation to manage radioactive waste in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. For society to support the sustainable solutions envisaged, disposal concepts must be technologically sound and the safety of these concepts must be convincingly demonstrated. The Nuclear Energy Agency's Integration Group for the Safety Case (IGSC) establishes and documents the technical and scientific basis for developing and reviewing safety cases as a platform for dialogue among technical experts and as a tool for decision making. The IGSC addresses various strategic and policy aspects of radioactive waste management as the technical advisory body to the NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) for all issues related to repository development. For more than two decades, the IGSC and its predecessor technical groups have promoted the exchange of national experience in evaluating and implementing geological repositories. IGSC activities foster consensus on best practices and encourage the development of innovative, advanced approaches covering the technical aspects at all stages of repository implementation, including: - strategies to characterise and evaluate potential disposal sites; - methods to design and test engineered barrier systems; - priorities for research and development programmes to improve the understanding of important processes and interactions; - tools for safety assessments; - techniques for the effective presentation and communication of the results of safety cases and other factors that provide the basis for increased confidence in the safety of geological disposal facilities. The IGSC has been instrumental in further developing the 'modern safety case', a concept that originally emerged from NEA work in the 1990's. Cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Commission (EC) has led to the worldwide adoption of this safety case concept. This flyer presents: the Geological disposal and the safety case, The IGSC mission, membership and operation, the safety case: current activities and the IGSC work programme