This conference is the main worldwide annual conference for radioactive waste management and environmental restoration. This year (the 49th), the conference had a record number of papers submitted as well as the largest ever attendance (around 2800 in total).

Alan Paulley attended as a Track co-chair and a member of the programme organising committee and co-chaired three sessions including a ‘roundtable' on systems thinking for decision analysis in legacy site clean-up. He also presented a paper, which won a "superior paper" award, on optimisation at the UK's low-level waste repository (LLWR) which was co-authored with colleagues from the team supporting Nuclear Waste Services' Environmental Safety Case programme for the LLWR. Emma Rhodes presented a paper on Dounreay Site End State work, which was co-authored by colleagues from Dounreay, a division of Magnox Ltd and its wider End State team. This was part of a combined UK and USA-led initiative to stimulate discussions on End State decision making, and optimisation more broadly.

The conference provided opportunity to discuss decision analysis and approaches to End States with both UK and international experts. There were a variety of interesting sessions on topics including stakeholder-informed decision analysis, environmental remediation, and deep borehole disposal technologies, as well as the usual updates on repository programmes and nuclear site progress on waste management, decommissioning and remediation from around the world.

The day before the conference, Emma and Alan explored the "Hidden Valley" and "Fat Man's Pass" in South Mountain Park and Preserve in the Sonoran Desert just outside of Phoenix.