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International
Waste Management Initiatives: Some History
The concept
of shared facilities for radioactive waste management is not new. The
issue has been discussed internationally for many years and a number of
initiatives have gained high profile - notably the Non-Proliferation Trust
(based in the USA), Minatom in Russia, and the Pangea project, from the
last of which much of the impetus to found Arius has sprung.
Papers on
the concept of international repositories have been published by the IAEA
and by workers in South Africa, Germany, Switzerland and the USA. Working
groups in the European Union have discussed equivalence principles that
could allow the exchange of wastes between members. Some smaller programmes
have long expressed interest in international solutions for their relatively
low volumes of HLW or spent fuel. There has been some limited transfer
of wastes for disposal (e.g. between Sweden and Germany). A few countries
have expressed an interest in disposing of imported wastes (e.g. China
and, more recently, Russia and Kazakhstan). In the USA and in Canada there
have been proposals from groupings of indigenous peoples to run commercial
storage and perhaps disposal facilities, which could be international.
The issue of disposal of excess fissile material from dismantled nuclear
weapons also came to the fore recently. Making the world a safer place
for everyone is something that would benefit from a multinational approach.
The Pangea
project has probably been the best-known initiative for international
disposal. This was focussed on a commercial approach (most recently through
the company Pangea Resources International). It emphasised a novel disposal
concept based on geological and geographical environments with exceptionally
high isolation potential, and looking in particular at regions of Australia.
Pangea ceased operations in 2001 when the owners decided that the commercial
prospects for an international repository were too far into the future
to justify the investment required. Looking forward, the team at Pangea
recognised that the success of shared solutions would take time to achieve
and would require many organisations to work together on a non-commercial
basis to explore feasible options.
Arius was
born from this change of emphasis, and the Pangea management team was
instrumental in founding the new Association.
Arius was
founded on February 22nd in Baden, Switzerland. The following Press Release
announced the outcome of the inaugural meeting:
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ARIUS:
a new Association promoting regional and international storage and
disposal of radioactive waste
On
22nd February 2002 a small group of organisations from 5 countries
inaugurated a new association to support the concept of sharing
facilities for storage and disposal of all types of long-lived radioactive
wastes. The new body - called ARIUS (Association for Regional and
International Underground Storage) - is an organisation without
commercial goals. The mission of the Association is to promote concepts
for socially acceptable, international and regional solutions for
environmentally safe, secure and economic storage and disposal of
long-lived radioactive wastes.
One
key objective will be to explore ways of making provision for shared
storage and disposal facilities for smaller users, who may not wish
to - or may not have the resources to - develop facilities of their
own. Some such programmes already have 'dual track' policies of
seeking eventual disposal solutions both at home and internationally.
Consequently, the initial membership of the ARIUS Association is
predominantly from countries with smaller nuclear programmes, although
it also includes industrial organisations that are interested in
promoting the international disposal concept. The founding members
are from Belgium (ONDRAF Waste Agency), Bulgaria (Kozloduy Power
Plant), Hungary (PURAM Waste Agency), Japan (Obayashi Corporation)
and Switzerland (Colenco Power Engineering, backed by two of the
Swiss nuclear power utilities). The Association is open to all organisations
sharing its goals; discussions with a range of further potential
members are already underway.
The
inaugural meeting, which was also attended by an observer from the
European Commission, elected the officials of ARIUS and agreed a
programme of activities for the first year of operations. The management
of the Association will be in the hands of Charles McCombie, as
Executive Director, and Neil Chapman as Programme Director. Both
of these experienced waste management specialists until recently
have worked with the company, Pangea Resources International (PRI).
The objectives of PRI, which has now ceased active operations, were
initiation and development of commercial opportunities for international
repositories.
There
is a wide and constantly growing acceptance that international and
regional repositories can bring environmental benefits and can help
to improve global safety and security. They will not replace national
repositories, some of which are now moving ahead towards implementation.
Both national and international facilities will be needed. The Association
ARIUS will work closely with international bodies, national governments
and national waste management programmes with a view to exploring
the scientific, legal and societal issues that affect the feasibility
of sharing storage and disposal facilities. By approaching its mission
in a co-operative and open manner, ARIUS hopes to make a positive
contribution to a key global environmental challenge.
22nd
February 2002
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