The NEA Working Party on Nuclear Liability and Radioactive Waste Disposal Facilities (WPLDF) met in person and online on 29 November 2023 with 29 participants representing 16 NEA member countries, 2 non-NEA member countries (Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates), as well as representatives from the nuclear insurance industry. This marked the first meeting of the group under its new name (it was previously the Working Party on Deep Geological Repositories and Nuclear Liability), with an extended mandate for 2022-2025 and a new programme of work for 2023-2024.
A topical session on near-surface disposal facilities and nuclear liability was organised during the meeting. This session included a tour de table on national developments in legal and regulatory frameworks applicable to these facilities, along with a discussion on the relevance of applying the conclusions of the recently published report on Deep Geological Repositories and Nuclear Liability to near-surface disposal facilities. The meeting agenda also featured reports by Belgium, Canada and the United Kingdom on the latest national developments in legal and regulatory frameworks applicable to radioactive waste disposal facilities followed by a discussion among the participants.
Finally, delegates engaged in a breakout session to discuss new topics of interest to the WPLDF and considered the best approach for future work, the types of deliverables the WPLDF should aim for, and the envisaged time frames for WPLDF activities.
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