Confidence Building in Post-Closure Safety Assessments and Safety Cases for Near Surface Disposal Facilities - IAEA ASAM Coordinated Research Programme

Abstract

The IAEA successfully concluded a Coordinated Research Program (CRP) called ISAM, which focussed on the development of an Improved Safety Assessment Methodology for near-surface radioactive waste disposal facilities (1997-2002). In November 2002, and as an extension of ISAM, the IAEA launched a new CRP called ASAM, designed to test the Application of the Safety Assessment Methodology by considering a range of nearsurface disposal facilities. The ASAM work programme is being implemented by three application working groups and two cross-cutting working groups. The application working groups are testing the applicability of the ISAM methodology by assessing an existing disposal facility in Hungary, a copper mine in South Africa, and a hypothetical facility containing heterogenous wastes, such as disused sealed sources. The first cross-cutting working group is addressing a number of technical issues that are common to all near-surface disposal facilitiess, while the second group, the Regulatory Review Working Group (RRWG) is developing guidance on how to gain confidence in safety assessments and safety cases, and on how to conduct regulatory reviews of safety assessments. This paper provides a brief overview of the work being conducted by the Regulatory Review Working Group.