Speaker
Description
The collaborate Euratom R&D project Pre-disposal of Radioactive Waste Management (PREDIS, 2020-2024, 23.7 M€) has numerous dimensions that are focusing on improving sustainable practices when handling low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (LILW). This presentation will share how the project’s innovations on treatment and condition of metallic, organic and concrete package waste streams is striving to minimize wastes that require higher classes of geological final disposal, by supporting the waste hierarchy. Technical examples will be given where the end user community of industry has identified areas where improvements could be made in treatment and conditioning also with more sustainable materials, such as geopolymers as replacements of traditional cement-based binders. The presentation will give examples how life cycle assessment approaches have been applied to show the environmental impact of such waste treatment and processing technologies. The impact of the project results to adapting safety and sustainability in Member States’ policies and regulations will be covered, with examples of evolution of waste acceptance criteria to account for new materials used in waste conditioning.
The PREDIs project community of 47 expert organisations from 17 European countries is striving to bring innovation and better practices to the community, directly impacting the Member States’ practices in holistic waste management practices. This linkage between sustainable practices needs arising from decommissioning as well as final disposal is highlighted via the recently developed Strategic Research Agenda, in collaboration with the European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management, EURAD.
