The purpose of this CRP is to identify and resume the reasons for initiating corrective actions at near surface disposal facilities, to generalize decision processes, to assess corrective approaches and principles applied, and to share information on implementation of specific procedures selected to reach effectively the required level of radiation safety of a facility
The overall objective of this CRP is to summarize principles, decision schemes, technical approaches and specific procedures applied for upgrading of near surface disposal facilities in Member States.
The specific objectives of the CRP are aimed at informing Member States about:
- Identifying needs for potential corrective action;
- Assessing options and selecting appropriate corrective actions and describing relevant decision schemes;
- Planning those corrective actions;
- Developing and adopting procedures and techniques involved in carrying out the corrective actions;
- Characterization of legacy waste and their conditioning to address the waste acceptance requirements;
- Implementing corrective actions;
- Evaluating effectiveness of the upgrading procedure, preferably for enhancing repository performance and reaching a higher level of safety, both operational and post-operational (long term)
It is anticipated that the results of this CRP will be useful to scientists, engineers, managers and others involved in assessing and improving the performance of existing near surface disposal facilities; the lessons learned from the application and evaluation of corrective actions may also be relevant in the development of new ones.
Upgrading of waste disposal facilities is planned and/or performed in a number of countries. It can be observed worldwide that some countries still are at the very beginning of the upgrading process whilst others have decided to implement appropriate corrective actions to their near surface disposal facilities. Some countries have successfully solved their problems and are assessing the obtained results. The Agency is aiming careful attention to this particular problem, publishing specialized documents. Similarly, in the present CRP an attempt has been made to bring together Member States that are in varying phases of implementation of upgrading their near surface disposal facilities.