Radioactive waste is produced in all phases of the nuclear fuel cycle and from the use of radioactive materials in industrial, medical, defence and research applications. Disposal in engineered repositories, located in suitable geological formations, is being developed worldwide as the reference solution for the long-term management of high-level or long-lived radioactive waste.

The safety of a repository is evaluated and documented in a “safety case” that supports the key decisions to progress between each stage of repository development and into closure. It presents the underlying supporting evidence and methods that give confidence in the quality of scientific and institutional processes, as well as in the results of analyses on repository performance and safety.

A safety case is traditionally presented through a suite of printed documents, often with a significant page count (e.g. in excess of 10 000 pages). These documents make qualitative and quantitative arguments through the use of text, tables, diagrams and plots with references provided to underlying reports, models and similar. However, the advent of digital technologies brings an opportunity to review existing processes for the production of safety cases, as well as approaches for the presentation of the information contained within. In doing so we can investigate whether additional benefits (for all stakeholders involved in the development programme for the repository) can be gained from the adoption of new technologies. Examples of envisaged benefits include the use of:

• interactive infographics, video (or other media), and the use of multiple output channels (e.g. pdf, e-books or web publishing) to improve the presentation of information and communication, either within the radioactive waste management organisation itself or to other stakeholders;
• resolvable hyperlinks, and full-text or link search capability to improve usability (including in the review process) and reduce repetition of information within Safety Case sections;
• glossaries and controlled vocabularies for terms (or metadata) used in the safety case, allowing consistency and enrichment of existing information, while potentially aiding machine-readability, thereby facilitating the long-term management, storage and archiving of the Safety Case and the information contained within;
• workflow processes and electronic signing to increase auditability and timeliness of information sharing and efficiency.

The objectives of this workshop are:

• to share lessons learnt from the work currently being carried out in member states in digital safety cases for radioactive waste disposal;
• to lay the groundwork to develop a common understanding of the opportunities, challenges and potential extent of a digital safety case (a ‘shared vision’) for radioactive waste disposal;
• to discuss differences in the priorities made by different organisations that progressed Safety Case digitisation depending on the context under which they operate (e.g. stage of programme, quantity of existing records);
• to establish a general guidance for member organisations to advance digitisation within their organisations; and
• to inform the future work programme of EGSSC in 2023 and beyond.

Session 1 - Digitisation and digitalisation experiences

• Keynote presentations and panel discussion on digital technologies and approaches which could have applicability to safety cases for radioactive waste disposal

Session 2 - Projects and tools in member countries

• Presentations and panel discussions by RWMOs on current work on digital safety case tools and systems

Session 3 - Digitisation of the Safety Case

• Breakout sessions with open discussion followed by a summary in plenary to share and develop ideas on relevant topics
• Session 3a: Opportunities and challenges
• Session 3b: Implementation of digitisation

Session 4 - Summary of workshop conclusions and proposed forward work

Workshop participants are invited to a technical visit offered free of charge to the Morsleben repository organised by the host organisation, BGE (please note that additional information willl be required). 

The site visit is scheduled for Monday, 24 October 2022. 

Transportation and refreshements will be provided. 

Departure time and place: 6 am from Berlin (meeting point at the entrance of the NH Hotel Berlin Mitte am Checkpoint Charlie - Leipziger Str. 106-111, 10117). Estimated arrival time in Berlin: 5 pm. More information will be provided soon. 

Please, indicate your interest to participate through the registration form. Note that the number of visitors will be limited. 

Registration 

Registration is now open through this page.

Registration fee: no registration fee will be charged. 

Registration deadline: 30 September 2022. 

If following your registration you decide not to attend, please send a cancellation note to dsc-workshop@oecd-nea.org. 

If you intend to register past the 30 September 2022, please send an e-mail to dsc-workshop@oecd-nea.org - your request will be processed depending on availability. 

Accommodation

The workshop will take place at the NH Hotel Berlin Mitte am Checkpoint Charlie - Leipziger Str. 106-111, 10117, Berlin, Germany. 

A special rate of 139 EU/night is being offered for the nights of 25-26 and 26-27 October 2022. 

• Links of the event-website to be used for room reservations at special rates: https://www.nh-hotels.com/event/nea-idkm-egssc-workshop-on-digital-safety-case-methods-and-development
• For booking via email, please send an email to congress@nh-hotels.com with the following information:
  • Group name: BGE BUNDESGESELLSCHAFT
  • Keyword: „NEA IDKM/EGSSC Workshop on Digital Safety Case Methods and Development“
  • Reference number (MB): MB0002890379
  • Name:
  • Check in date:
  • Check out date:
  • Number of people:

   

Please, note that the deadline to secure the room at this rate is 10th of October 2022. After this date, room availability cannot be guaranteed.

Key dates

Organisers

The organisers of the workshop are the NEA and BGE, host of the event. 

Programme Commitee

A dedicated Programme Committee has been established to design the content and format of this workshop, including representatives from the EGSSC, the IGSC and the FSC.