[en] NEA member countries are currently developing deep geological disposal projects for radioactive waste and spent fuel. These facilities will be implemented and operated over several decades. Once closed, they are to remain safe for millennia. Geological repositories are designed to be intrinsically safe and final; safety is not to depend on human presence and intervention. However, there is no intention to forgo, at any time, records, knowledge, memory (RK and M) and awareness of the repository and the waste it contains. Besides, specific requirements may have to be fulfilled in the area of RK and M based on national legislation and regulation, e.g. in the area of preventing human intrusion, favouring retrievability of the waste, or to simply allow future generations to make their own informed decisions about the waste. Additionally, host communities and regions have indicated a strong interest in that appropriate provisions exist for preserving detailed information about the repository for as long as possible. As a result, national programmes are actively seeking to improve their understanding of the preservation of RK and M about radioactive waste across generations and to implement the necessary provisions. The NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) initiative on the Preservation of RK and M across Generations was launched to meet the demands from member countries for facilitating exchange and fostering reflection in this area, including formulating common approaches. This initiative has as its focus the period of time after repository closure; another initiative, RepMet, deals with the period before closure. There is no single mechanism or technique that, by itself, would achieve the preservation of RK and M over centuries and millennia. Rather, an integrated set of mechanisms and techniques - technical, administrative and societal - is needed to address the various timescales and to support one another. The RK and M initiative started in 2011 with the first phase ending in March 2014, at which time the RWMC decided to extend the initiative until 2017. 19 organisations from 13 countries, representing policy makers, regulators, implementing agencies and R and D institutions, participate in the initiative in this second phase. Complementing the long-term, post-closure focus of the RK and M initiative, an initiative concentrating on the pre-closure period and the management of (meta-)data about radioactive waste and geological repositories was launched jointly with the Integration Group for the Safety Case (IGSC). The new, Radioactive Waste Repository Metadata Management (RepMet) initiative aims to bring about a better understanding of the identification and administration of metadata to support national programmes in managing their radioactive waste repository data, information and records in a way that is both harmonised internationally and suitable for long-term management and use. The first meeting of the RepMet initiative took place on 20-21 January 2014 at the NEA. The NEA RWMC adopted a collective statement on 'Foundations and guiding principles for the preservation of records, knowledge and memory across generations: A focus on the post-closure phase of geological repositories' at its 47. session, which took place on 27-28 March 2014 at the OECD conference centre. A number of project studies were published in 2013/14 and are available on the RK and M web site. Several RK and M group meetings took place at NEA, Paris, in April and September 2013, and February, April, and May 2014. 'Constructing Memory', an international conference and debate on the preservation of records, knowledge and memory of radioactive waste across generations, will take place in Verdun (France) in September 2014. This progress report is the third of the RK and M initiative and covers the March 2013 - March 2014 period

[en] The report documents a computer program for evaluating maximum annual doses to members of the critical population group (located close to the disposal site). It can be used for dose estimates for up to 10,000 years following the end of low-level waste-disposal operations. The conceptual logic and control modifications include simultaneous modeling of leaching from multiple waste forms, output, or organ-dose summaries for specified intervals of time, calculation of nuclide-specific dose-conversion factors used in determining total dose for each year, determination of maximum annual dose and the year in which it occurs, and output of corresponding dose summaries

[en] The Aespoe Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL) constitutes an important part of SKB's work to design and construct a geological repository for spent nuclear fuel and to develop and test methods for characterisation of a suitable site. The plans for SKB's research and development of technique during the period 2008-2013 are presented in SKB's RDandD-Programme 2007 /SKB 2007/. The information given in the RDandD-Programme related to Aespoe HRL is annually detailed in the Aespoe HRL Planning Report /SKB 2008/. This Aespoe HRL Status Report is a collection of the main achievements obtained during the third quarter of 2008

[en] The Aespoe Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL) constitutes an important part of SKB's work to design and construct a geological repository for spent nuclear fuel and to develop and test methods for characterisation of a suitable site. The plans for SKB's research and development of technique during the period 2008-2013 are presented in SKB's RDandD-Programme 2007 /SKB 2007/. The information given in the RDandD-Programme related to Aespoe HRL is annually detailed in the Aespoe HRL Planning Report /SKB 2008/. This Aespoe HRL Status Report is a collection of the main achievements obtained during the fourth quarter of 2008

[en] Full text: This set of applications serves for keeping the records about the radioactive waste products collected by IFIN-HH. This records cover all the levels involved, beginning with the by-product's processing at Department of Radioactive Waste Management (STDR), up to their final destination - the radioactive waste disposal at DNDR-Baita Bihor. The applications include several user-friendly interfaces for data inputs, data editing and modifications and querying. It provides secure access for both levels: reading and/or writing. A set of security systems is included, most of them original, to ensure the database's integrity. Also some special tools were developed in order to display the current situations when serching the database and also for measurement unit conversion. The program consists of management applications, tables containing the main long-lived isotopes, providers and utilities for reports editing. STDR worked in conjunction with the IT Department (DIC) from IFIN-HH to develop this project. (author)

[en] The Program on Nuclear Safety comprehends Radioprotection, Radioactive Waste Management and Nuclear Material Control

[en] The role of the Environmental authority si to make sure that the environmental impacts are correctly taken into account in all projects, plans and programs submitted to the authority. The opinions and decisions of the Environmental authority apply to various domains, from nuclear energy to harbor works, including all types of infrastructures: railways, roads, energy facilities, urbanism, wastes and pollutions prevention etc. This report accounts for the Environmental authority in 2012. It presents a hundred of opinions and decisions, recalls the authority's intervention framework and methods, and provides a comprehensive list of handled files. Some particular cases are presented as examples.

[en] Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory (RK and M) across Generations is an initiative under the RWMC in the area of knowledge consolidation and transfer. Disposal in engineered facilities built in stable, deep geological formations is the reference means for permanently isolating long-lived radioactive waste from the biosphere. However, there is no intention to forgo, at any time, knowledge and awareness either of the repository or of the waste that it contains. The cultural dimension of preserving RK and M is an important subject. Overall, long-term preservation of RK and M is a multidisciplinary work area in which much learning is expected over the coming years. This is the task of the RWMC's RK and M initiative. A major outcome will be a menu-driven document that - the RK and M Wiki - that will allow people to identify the elements of a strategic action plan for RK and M preservation. This document is a summary record of the 4. Meeting of the RK and M project. Three appendices are attached to the summary: - A: Agreed changes to the key observations of the September 2012 Workshop Proceedings; - B: Summary of the discussion and action points regarding the development of the MDD Wiki; - C: Decisions and Actions. The list of participants is also attached to the end of the document. The summary is made of 32 items: 1: Progress Report (Claudio Pescatore); 2: September 2012 Workshop Proceedings (Claudio Pescatore); 3: Glossary and Bibliography Update (Anne Claudel); 4: UNESCO Digital Conference Report and Work with CoData (Claudio Pescatore); 5: Observations on the Proceedings of the UNESCO Digital Memory Conference (Anne Claudel); 6: Discussion; 7: Archives and Digital Libraries (Per Carlsson); 8: Literature Survey on Markers and Memory Preservation (Marcos Buser); 9: Tsunami Stones Report - Development Work (Helen Gordon-Smith); 10: Markers Discussion (Jantine Schroeder); 11: Study of local communities' position on monitoring and the preservation of knowledge and memory and the relationship to confidence (Meritxell Martell); 12: The Concept of Oversight (Claudio Pescatore); 13: Monitoring and Oversight Discussion; 14: Minimal Set of Records; 15: Wrap Up of day 1 discussions; 16: Day 2 Introduction; 17: Exploratory investigation into the loss of memory on conventional landfills and contaminated sites of the past (Marcos Buser); 18: Difficulties in preserving knowledge across generations: Exemplification by the repository 'Asse II mine'; 19: Loss of Records and Memory Discussion; 20: Regulatory Catalogue (Helen Gordon-Smith); 21: Regulatory Catalogue Discussion (Stephan Hotzel); 22: Supranational Mechanisms to support Records, Knowledge and Memory Preservation over the medium term (Thierry Schneider); 23: Supranational Mechanisms Discussion (Jean-Noel Dumont); 24: Bibliography Analysis (Richard Ferch); 25: Bibliography Analysis Discussion (Anne Claudel); 26: Menu Driven Document Wiki (Eelco Kruizinga); 27: Wrap-Up of day 2 discussions; 28-29: Introduction and Review of the Meeting (Claudio Pescatore); 30: September Workshop; 31: Phase II; 32: Wrap-Up of day 3 discussions

No abstract available

[en] Both domestic and international political feasibility studies are being conducted for sub-seabed disposal