MCM is delighted to have supported Nagra in the update of their Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) Plan and its preparation for publication. The published version of the document can be found on the Nagra website: Technical Report NTB 21-02 | Nagra.
MCM worked closely with key senior Nagra staff and Nagra technical subject matter experts to develop the ‘Nagra Disposal Programme Roadmap’ using a tiered structure (Fig. 3-1 of NTB 21-02).
Fig. 3-1 of NTB 21-02 illustrating the tiered structure of the Nagra Roadmap.
Collaborative Approach
Through a series of workshops and an agile, iterative approach, MCM worked with Nagra subject matter experts across a variety of disciplines to produce thirteen roadmap graphics against this tiered structure (published as NTB 21-02 Appendix A3) along with a description of Nagra’s long-term disposal programme (captured in Tier 1 & 2, published as NTB 21-02 Chapter 3) and the programme aspects with a significant RD&D component (captured in Tier 3, published as NTB 21-02 Chapter 7).
Prior to publication, MCM also worked alongside the internal Nagra team to re-structure and review the RD&D Plan, supporting Nagra in highlighting and communicating the progress which has been made since the publication of its previous version in 2016.
MCM Team
The MCM team was led by Jake Kinghorn-Mills with primary support from Tara Beattie and Alastair Clark. MCM Project Lead, Jake Kinghorn-Mills said:
“It’s fantastic to have seen our initial engagement with Nagra in 2019 lead to the publication of the full suite of Nagra Roadmap graphics through NTB 21-02. The project has been a rewarding experience which undoubtedly benefited from the close involvement of senior Nagra staff and the collaborative approach embraced by all members of the Nagra-MCM project team.”
Dr Ally Clark (MCM) provided consultancy support to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), providing expert opinion and development of an IAEA document entitled ‘Design Principles and Approaches for Radioactive Waste Repositories’. This publication is intended to assist Member States in planning for the disposal of radioactive waste. It describes the approaches and principles to be considered during the planning and design of radioactive waste disposal facilities.
RWM has published a series of reports on different engineering solutions (termed disposal concepts) for the geological disposal of UK radioactive waste. From 2014 to 2017, the RWM Concepts Integrated Project Team, led by Amec Foster Wheeler (Wood) and supported by MCM, completed a series of tasks to advance knowledge for a variety of disposal concepts. Silos for low-heat generating wastes, Mined Boreholes Matrices, Vaults and Supercontainers for high-heat generating wastes, and Co-location and Multi-level concepts for all waste types. A focus of the work has been to consider different options for conceptual designs, and explore the applicability of these options for a range of waste types, including how post-closure performance assessment models can be used to support concept selection. A high level summary of all the options is provided by the Concept Status Report and the process for the selection of disposal concepts provided by the updated Concept Selection Process, both co-authored by MCM.
Conceptual GDF including a mined borehole matrix disposal concept for high-heat generating wastes.
In readiness for the official launch of the UK GDF siting process, we look to other countries who are also implementing geological disposal using a volunteer approach. This recent paper, authored by MCM Founding Partner Ian McKinley and co-workers, once again demonstrates how important design decisions can be influenced by stakeholder requirements. it will be interesting to follow if UK stakeholders voice similar views to Japan on requirements for reversibility and retrievability and how this influences early conceptual design choices.
In 2017, the Dutch radioactive waste management agency (COVRA) completed its major, five-year research programme on the feasibility of disposal of the national inventory of higher-activity wastes into the Boom Clay (the OPERA Programme). Neil Chapman and Charles McCombie were members of the Safety Case Steering Group during the project and are co-authors of the final OPERA Safety Case report and Summary, published in December 2017.
Ellie Scourse edited a book, recently published by the Geological Society, entitled ‘Tsunamis – Geology, Hazards and Risks’.
MCM and their partners Arup are delighted to have been selected to be the sole providers of knowledge management services through the Shared Services Alliance to the NDA estate and associated participating organisations.
There are significant business and organisational benefits to be obtained from the effective management of knowledge.
The NDA states that the prime objective of a knowledge management system is to: Ensure the right knowledge is available to the right people at the right time for the safe and efficient decommissioning of the UK civil nuclear legacy. The objective of the framework is to provide intelligent hands-on support in the delivery of improvement plans for the management of knowledge across the NDA estate, guiding the development of capability in line with the knowledge management maturity assessments, and enabling inter-organisational collaboration.
Ellie Scourse has recently co-authored a chapter in a book called ‘Geological Repository Systems for Safe Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuels and Radioactive Waste (Second Edition)’.
The chapter is entitled ‘Expert judgement elicitation: Application to science issues in siting facilities for geological disposal of nuclear waste’ and was authored by Ellie, Willy Aspinall, Neil Chapman and Steve Sparks.
Ellie Scourse co-authored a paper highlighting work done for the NUMO funded Topaz project. This has been published recently on the AGU Publications Website. Its was also the lead article on the Earth and Space Science News website.
One of the most important developments in radioactive waste management to have occurred recently is the initiative by the Government of South Australia to consider the pros and cons of establishing nuclear fuel cycle facilities in the State. South Australia is among the world’s major suppliers of uranium and the government wished to consider whether it should develop a whole range of other services, as well as its own nuclear power programme. The Royal Commission established by the Government reported in May 2016. MCM provided a range of input to the Commission, with much of the information being used in the final report:
One of the Royal Commission’s central findings was that establishment of commercially based storage and disposal facilities for international clients, for spent fuel, HLW and long-lived ILW, would be feasible and of great benefit to South Australia. The economic scale of the storage and GDF project that was modelled is considerable: for a waste inventory representative of a significant number of the world’s smaller nuclear power programmes the resource turnover was estimated by the Jacobs-MCM team to be some hundreds of billions of dollars.
The Commission report has created considerable interest globally and active discussion within South Australia. The Government will respond to the findings by the end of 2016. The overall tenor of comment is generally positive and an opinion poll carried out while the Commission was at work reported an almost even split between those in favour and those against. A positive response of the Government to the Royal Commission report would change the worldwide paradigm of radioactive waste management for all RWM programmes in almost every country.
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