The theme for the symposium was “Current Understanding and Future Direction for the Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste”. Sessions were held covering:

• safety case and siting (both countries actively with site selection underway and those at the generic stage presented);
• safety case and licensing;
• safety case and the non-technical stakeholder;
• regulatory challenges in safety case review;
• safety case and R&D;
• international co-operation for research: role and added value;
• operational safety and its influence on post-closure safety; and
• information management.

Many opportunities for countries with less advanced radioactive waste disposal programmes to learn from those with more advanced programmes were identified. For example, the work of the NEA to collate a summary of the outputs of large international collaborative research programmes in their Safety Case Source Book provided a useful tool; it helps those countries with developing radioactive waste disposal programmes to locate information and evidence that would support them in the development of their own safety cases. The benefits from early, bi-directional engagement with wider stakeholders (e.g. civil society) in the siting and development of repositories were emphasised.

Quintessa had an exhibition stand at the symposium, where we demonstrated the web-based application of Features, Events and Processes (FEP) relevant to the long-term safety of geological disposal facilities for radioactive waste that Quintessa has been developing for the NEA.