Quintessa, with the support of consortium partners SCK-CEN, Belgatom and the Josef Stefan Institute, has just completed a contract under the European Commission's PHARE nuclear safety programme to provide assistance in the development of conceptual design for the LILW repository programme in Slovenia.
The programme is under the supervision of Agencija za radioaktivne odpadke (ARAO), the Slovenian Agency for Radioactive Waste Management. The project assessed the inventory of low and intermediate level radioactive waste and considered the implications of Waste Acceptance Criteria for the conditioning and packaging of wastes, together with how this could affect the choice of a preferred siting and disposal concept. The work has been undertaken in parallel with ARAO's existing programme on repository siting, design and development, and the outcome is being used to inform discussions between ARAO, the Slovenian government and regulatory authorities. Information has also been gathered on inventory and current waste management practices from ARAO and by working with the staff from the Krško nuclear power plant and the operators of the research reactor at Brinje.