International Projects

Worldwide Reviews

WWR workshop attendees in 2001 at Berkeley Lab.

Many nations around the world use nuclear power, and the solutions these countries have pursued in isolating their nuclear waste underground have varied. In addition to obviously different geographical constraints, each country has at least some differences in potential repository rock types. Each type of rock, in turn, has certain advantages and disadvantages with respect to nuclear waste containment.

To facilitate the sharing of knowledge about the isolation qualities of the various rock types—as well as any other information related to nuclear waste isolation—ESD's Paul Witherspoon began a series of worldwide reviews (starting in 1991, and updated and revised every 5 years since then) describing the progress made by various countries around the world in their nuclear waste isolation programs. This series of reviews has been published in conjunction with workshops held at LBNL involving countries represented in the latest worldwide review. These workshops have generally focused on emerging technologies that would aid in solving crosscutting nuclear-waste-isolation problems. In 2006, ESD published the latest issue in this series, Geological Challenges in Radioactive Waste Isolation: Fourth Worldwide Review.

IAEA

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), located in Vienna, Austria, recognizes that the status of waste management is very different among countries operating nuclear power plants. Countries with large nuclear programs are generally more advanced than others with smaller inventories or with less organized structures. It is in the interest of all the countries engaged in the production of nuclear energy—large or small—to promote and facilitate nuclear waste management worldwide, to increase safety.

As participants in this effort, ESD (and the Nuclear Waste Program within it) is a member of the IAEA Research Network (an IAEA Centers of Excellence network). This network, established in 2003, serves as a way of maintaining communication and sharing information among countries involved in nuclear waste management and disposal. In 2003, 2004, and 2005, the ESD Nuclear Waste Program hosted week-long training courses, under the IAEA's Technical Cooperation Program, to provide general training on methodologies for geologic disposal. The objective of this program was to transfer knowledge and technology from nations with advanced research and development programs in underground research facilities, to nations with less-developed repository implementation programs or with no direct access to underground research laboratories. The aim is to increase the level of competence in nuclear waste management among countries needing to dispose of spent fuel and highly radioactive waste. Another training course is planned for Berkeley, August 20-24, 2007.

In August 2006, as part of an IAEA Cooperative Research Project, ESD conducted a week-long modeling training course focusing specifically on the ESD-developed TOUGH simulation software codes. ESD is the primary developer of the TOUGH family of codes, which incorporate the key processes involved in nuclear waste disposal, including thermally driven, coupled hydrological, chemical, and mechanical processes. The TOUGH codes are considered to be key DOE's numerical simulation tools for fluid flow within porous soil or fractured rock. These codes are currently in use in approximately 300 institutions in more than 30 countries.

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