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CONFERENCE REPORTS
Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management Symposium Addressed Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste The 29th International Symposium on the Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management was held in Ghent, Belgium, September 12–16, 2005. The conference was co-sponsored by the FWO (the Research Foundation–Flanders), endorsed by the Materials Research Society, and held in cooperation with the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA–OECD) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Pierre Van Iseghem of SCK–CEN in Belgium chaired the organizing committee. The symposium offered an overview of the international status of research on the geological disposal of radioactive waste. Symposium topics covered waste forms, container materials, analogs, radionuclide behavior, integrated testing, and safety case. With an attendance of 190, the symposium consisted of 58 presentations and 89 posters. Keynote lectures provided critical assessments of the state of the art in the major topics. Proceedings are scheduled for publication as an MRS symposium proceedings volume in September 2006. Introductory presentations highlighted the status of some major underground disposal programs worldwide. J. Vira of POSIVA discussed the different steps that Finland is taking before the planned submission of a license application for the construction of an underground repository at the Olkiluoto site in 2012. H. Umeki of JNC presented the generic R&D program ongoing in Japan in two sites: Mizunami in crystalline rock, and Horonobe in sedimentary rock. J. Bel of NIRAS/ONDRAF presented the supercontainer disposal concept recently proposed in Belgium. P. Van Iseghem (SCK–CEN) and C. Poinssot (CEA), in their keynote presentations, discussed the consensus that the long-term dissolution rates of glass and spent fuel are considerably lower than the initial dissolution rates. The lifetimes of these waste forms in repository water are expected to be 10 5 –10 7 years. L. Johnson (NAGRA) discussed the elaboration of the Safety Case of the whole repository system, including engineered barriers and host rock, stating that it may become clear that the contribution of the engineered barriers to the retardation of the radionuclide transfer to the biosphere becomes negligible (e.g., glass disposed in a clay rock). B. Grambow (SUBATECH) reported on the coupling of the chemical processes in the near-field, and concluded that the engineered barriers (e.g., bentonite
MRS BULLETIN • VOLUME 30 • DECEMBER 2005
Participants visit and discuss research during one of the poster sessions at the 29th International Symposium on the Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management, held in September in Ghent, Belgium.
Alderman Mr. Decaluwe (center) and symposium chair Pierre Van Iseghem of SCK–CEN (right) during the reception in the City Hall of Ghent.
backfills, glass waste forms) can retard radionuclide release in a similar way as the host rock. A ~50-cm-thick bentonite backfill around the high-level waste package will by itself result in an annual fracti
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