IAEA Director General calls for national and international action on geological repositories for radioactive waste disposal

Speaking at an International Conference on Geological Repositories in Denver, USA, the Director General of the IAEA urged that efforts be stepped up, with IAEA involvement, to reach an international consensus on action concerning geological repositories for the disposal of high level radioactive waste. He also urged all States concerned to put the necessary programmes in place and ensure that these were well-defined and transparent, so as to help secure public understanding and acceptance. For its part, the Agency is now devoting more resources to this issue and can further assist its Member States in tackling it in a number of ways, such as: intensified information exchange on options and implications; providing advisory services to Member States; fostering cooperation on state-of-the-art technologies; initiating cooperative projects, where appropriate, on design, siting, demonstration of technological feasibility, etc.; taking the initiative to establish international safety standards on disposal; organizing a multidisciplinary forum so as to pull together an international consensus; and encouraging demonstration of safe disposal technologies in underground research facilities, leading to ultimate construction and operation of full-scale geological repositories