2017 Advanced Workshop,
“School for Drafting Regulations on Radiation
Safety”
Vienna, Austria
16 – 27 January 2017
Module 2.4 –
National Policy and Strategy for
Radioactive waste Management
Content
• National policy and strategy
• Strategies for waste management
2
What is policy and what is
strategy?
Policy is about establishing the goal, aims,
ends of a matter,
Strategy is about means to achieve the
aims, ends
In its simplest form a radioactive waste
management policy states that radioactive
waste shall be managed in a safe way
Strategy relates to how this is to be
achieved
3
IAEA Safety Requirements
Decommissioning of facilities and the safe
management and disposal of radioactive
waste shall constitute essential elements
of the governmental policy and the
corresponding strategy over the lifetime of
facilities and the duration of activities.
4
IAEA Safety Requirements
Requirement 2: National policy and
strategy on radioactive waste
management.
To ensure the effective management and
control of radioactive waste, the government
shall ensure that a national policy and a
strategy for radioactive waste management
are established.
The policy and strategy shall be appropriate for
the nature and the amount of the radioactive
waste in the State shall indicate the regulatory
control required, and shall consider relevant
societal factors.
5
BACKGROUND
 Every country should have some form of policy and strategy
for managing its spent fuel and radioactive waste
 Required/recommended in some IAEA publications and in
the JC, but the contents of a national policy and strategy are
not elaborated in these documents
 In some MS’s national P&S well established, in others exist
but without explicit statement; in many developing MS’s do
not exist
=> A need to help in developing or upgrading the contents of
national policies and strategies in numbers of MS’s
6
BACKGROUND
Common WTS/WES document on
Policies and strategies for spent
fuel and radioactive waste
management
7
OBJECTIVE
 To set out the main elements of
national RWM policy and strategy to
serve as an aid, resource and
reference for those engaged in its
development or updating
 To advice on policy – strategy links
 To advice on procedure for its
development and implementation
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DEFINITIONS – Policy (1)
 Policy is a set of established goals or requirements;
they normally define national rules and
responsibilities and are established by the national
government.
 Strategy is the means (technical, organizational) for
achieving the goals and requirements set out in the
national policy.
9
DEFINITIONS – Strategy (2)
• Policy
– Often codified in the national legislative system
– Provides principles, infrastructure and formal requirement for
its implementation and
– for the development of appropriate strategies
• Strategy
– Normally established by the relevant waste owner or operator
– A national policy may be elaborated in several different
strategies
– The individual strategies may address different types of waste
(e.g. reactor waste, decommissioning waste, institutional
waste, etc.) or waste belonging to different owners.
• The line separating policy from strategy is not sharp
=> sometimes P/S mixtures exist
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Policy – strategy links
GOVERNMENT
PARLIAMENT
FORMULATE POLICY
STATEMENT
INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS
(TREATIES, AGREEMENTS,
CONVENTIONS)
NATIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES (ENERGY
POLICY, RESOURCES, RW INVENTORY)
NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
MINISTRIES
REGULATORS
IMPLEMENT POLICY
NATIONAL RWM INFRASTRUCTURE
FUNDING SYSTEM
RWM AGENCY and
GENERATORS
ELABORATE STRATEGY
TECH. INFRASTRUCTURE,
RESOURCES, TIME CONSTRAINTS
IMPLEMENT STRATEGY
TECHNICAL OPTIONS
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Policy needed




As a basis for the preparation of related legislation;
To define roles and responsibilities in RWM;
As a starting point for the development of RWM strategies;
As a starting point for further developments and modifications
to the existing national practices;
 To provide for the safety and sustainability of RWM over
generations;
 For the adequate allocation of financial and human resources
over time; and
 To enhance public confidence in RWM
12
National policy
• Sometimes not written, but implied in legislation
• Policy > Strategy > Legislation
• ‘What state wants to do to ensure safe
management of waste’
• Reflects national priorities, circumstances,
structures, human and financial resources
• Should be updated from time to time
13
National policy
• Should be compatible with
– Joint Convention on the Safety of SF and RW
Management
– IAEA safety documents
• Should be based on thorough knowledge
of
– Existing waste
– Future waste generation
• Nature of regulatory control,
public/stakeholder involvement
14
Prerequisites for policy
Knowledge of:
 Present national legal framework
 Present institutional structure
 Applicable international conventions
 Present national policies and strategies
 Spent fuel and radioactive waste inventory
 Availability of resources
 Situation in other countries
 Stakeholder involvement
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Typical policy elements
 Reflect national priorities, circumstances, structures,
human and financial resources
 Allocation of responsibilities
 The “polluter pays principle”
 Provision of financial resources (segregated funds)
 Safety and security objectives
 Waste minimization
 Export/import of radioactive waste
 Management of spent fuel
 Management of radioactive waste (incl. NORM and
DSRS)
 Policy on decommissioning
 Public information and participation
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Establishment of national policy
 Policy statement to represent the views of all
organizations concerned in RWM
 Representative committee: regulator, RWM
organization, generators, others involved…
 Draft policy statement to review/recommend by all
relevant players
 Final approval by government to produce the
official position of the government
17
Implementation of a national policy
 Establish an adequate and appropriate RWM
institutional framework
 Assure that the staff involved is competent (within
the RWM infrastructure)
 Create a funding mechanism to provide adequate
financial resources for the whole RWM lifecycle (to
finance the necessary facilities, equipment and
staff for RWM)
18
Strategy needed
 To specify how the national RWM policy will be
implemented by the responsible organizations using the
available technical measures and financial resources;
 To define how and when the identified goals and
requirements will be achieved;
 To identify the competencies needed for achieving the
goals and how they will be provided;
 To elaborate how to manage the various RW types; and
 To enhance public confidence in relation to the RWM.
19
Prerequisites for strategy
 National policies for nuclear energy and waste
management
 Inventory of spent fuel and radioactive waste
 Waste classification system
 Waste stream characterization
 Waste management strategies in other countries
 Existing waste management facilities
 Availability of resources
 Existing regulatory regime
 Stakeholder expectations and interests
 Future plans – new build, mineral processing, etc
20
Strategy development
Preferred approach:
 To concentrate the waste and to contain the
radionuclides in waste matrix and container followed
by disposal to provide isolation from the biosphere
 Waste categories according to a new classification scheme
 List of technological principles with references to detailed
description
 Secure funding and human resources
 Execute the plan (clear timeframes and endpoints)
 Identify problems/needs for development
 Identify options
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Considerations in strategy development
 Strategic approaches (recycling, immediate x deferred
disposal, multinational processes/facilities)
 Compliance with policy
 Graded approach
 Resources (financial, human, technical)
 Generic technical options (shared, centralised, mobile
facilities)
 Country specifics (population, climate, neighbours)
 Constraints on strategy selection (non- and nuclear)
 Public sensitivity
 Uncertainties
22
Strategy formulation/implementation
Assign responsibility for strategy
development
Assess adequacy of available
information
Define possible endpoints
Identify possible technical options
Determine optimal strategy
Assign responsibilities for
implementation
Inadequate
inputs
Establish supervisory mechanism for
implementation
Develop strategy implementation
plan
Implement strategy
23
Strategy
‘The art of devising or employing plans
towards a goal’
‘Member States shall have strategies to
implement their national radioactive waste
management policy. The development of
these strategies will depend upon national
circumstances, structures and priorities
and the diversity in types of radioactive
waste’
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Strategies for Waste Management
It is simple to describe...
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Assess the present situation
Consider WM from generation to disposal
Identify problems/needs for development
Identify options
Devise a plan
Secure funding
Execute the plan
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Strategies for Waste Management
But in practice…
•
Need funding
•
•
Political system involved
Public trust needed on key components
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Strategies for Waste Management
Prerequisites:
Operational capability to deal
with waste:
• Operators and facilities
Independent regulatory
capability:
• Legal framework and
regulatory body
27
Strategies for Waste Management
System of waste management:
• Sum of required individual components
• Consideration of components in terms of
totality
• Effective use of resources to get the best
result
• Different from country to country
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Strategies for Waste Management
Establishing a waste management system
requires:
• Identification of the parties involved in the
different steps
• A rational set of safety, radiological and
environmental protection objectives
• Identification of existing and anticipated
radioactive wastes
• Control of radioactive waste generation
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Strategies for Waste Management
Establishing a waste management system
requires (2):
• Identification of available methods and facilities
• Interdependencies among all steps of waste
generation and management
• Appropriate research and development
• Funding structure and the allocation of resources
that are essential for radioactive waste
management
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Strategies for Waste Management:
Important components
• The licensing/registration process
• Safety assessments, EIA
• Generation and management of
radioactive waste
• Safety culture
• Management system
• Research and Development
• Documentation and records
• Staff training and qualification
• Emergency planning
• Institutional control
31
Strategies for Waste Management
Disposal options – strategies
• HLW – deep geological disposal
• Sealed sources – borehole?
• LILW (long-lived) - engineered shallow
geological disposal?
• LILW (short-lived) – engineered shallow
disposal
• VLLW – landfill?
• Mining and milling wastes – How to avoid
human intrusion - long term radon doses?
32
Strategies for Waste Management
Disposal options – strategies
• What to do with historical wastes?
• What to do when disposal is not yet possible
– Storage facilities
• What to do when there are not enough
resources?
33
Waste Management Strategy –
Generic Example
A pictorial example of a
generic waste management
strategy.
From: Decommissioning
of Small Medical, Industrial
and Research Facilities, IAEA
TECDOC-1041 (1998).
34
Updating policy and strategy
 Experienced obtained
 New national circumstances
 New international agreements
 Policy updating (government)
 Strategy updating (operator)
35
Thank you!