The IAEA has organized various international meetings and projects on the safety of near surface disposal of radioactive waste. These projects included work to (i) benchmark safety assessment models, (ii) develop improved safety assessment methods, (iii) apply improved safety assessment methods to proposed and existing disposal facilities and consider regulatory review of safety assessments, (iv) to enhance understanding of the safety case for near surface disposal facilities, and (v) to explore approaches for the practical use of the safety case in the management of near surface disposal facilities. These activities have provided a valuable and productive international forum for discussions, exchange of experiences, development of methodologies and mutual learning. Since 2017, the IAEA has been facilitating the ongoing Forum on the Safety of Near Surface Disposal. This publication results from the work of the Forum during October 2017 to September 2022. The intended audience for this publication includes those involved in developing, operating and regulating near surface disposal facilities for radioactive waste and those involved in developing, reviewing, and using safety assessments and safety cases for the disposal of radioactive wastes.

A range of diverse sites globally have been affected by past activities and events resulting in their contamination with residual radioactive material. As a result, there is a need to evaluate the site-specific radiological hazards and doses to people and the environment to determine whether remediation is justified and, if so, to develop and implement plans to address the situation. The IAEA has published a Generic Safety Guide (GSG-15) - Remediation Strategy and Process for Areas Affected by Past Activities or Events, which establishes a stepwise approach for the planning and implementation of remediation applying the principles of radiation protection. This publication presents the results generated from the modelling of case studies of sites contaminated with residual radioactive material from past activities and events within the Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety (EMRAS II) programme to demonstrate the practical application of the stepwise remediation process presented in GSG-15.

The objective of this Safety Guide is to provide recommendations for the design of new nuclear power plants related to defence in depth and the practical elimination of plant event sequences that could lead to an early radioactive release or a large radioactive release. It also provides recommendations in relation to design aspects of defence in depth, in particular on those aspects associated with design extension conditions.??Since the introduction of the term "practical elimination" in the early 90's and the recognition that accident conditions could include design extension conditions without significant fuel degradation and design extension conditions with core melting, those topics have been the subject of extensive discussions and several publications. The purpose of this publication is to facilitate international consensus on the understanding of those topics among regulators and designers and to provide recommendations for their consistent implementation in relevant nuclear power plant designs. In particular, this Specific Safety Guide gives recommendations related to the demonstration of the implementation of the practical elimination concept for those plant event sequences that could lead to an early radioactive release or a large radioactive release, which relies on the physical impossibility or on the high-level confidence that they are extremely unlikely to arise.

Protection of the environment is one of the cornerstones of sustainable development, a key consideration for Member States embarking on new nuclear power programmes. National requirements and international instruments increasingly reflect this concern and for the provision of opportunities for interested parties and stakeholders to be involved in decision-making processes. This new edition provides valuable guidance to Member States on issues related to environmental protection when considering a new nuclear power plant. It aligns more closely with the phased approach and takes into account Revision 1 of IAEA Nuclear Energy Series NG-G-3.1 and highlights the interface with other infrastructure issues. It also considers lessons learned from the 30 Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) missions conducted to date, and ensures consistency, and alignment of approaches and terminology with other relevant IAEA publications. This publication is primarily intended for Member States who are considering or embarking on new nuclear power programmes, and specifically the decision makers and technical specialists who are involved in environmental protection.

This publication is a new edition of Technical Reports Series No. 240, Guidebook on Spent Fuel Storage (1991). It aims to provide guidance on spent fuel storage options, describing the history and observed trends of spent fuel storage technologies, gathering operational experiences and lessons learned. The evolving aspects related to higher burnup and mixed oxide (MOX) spent fuel, and the extension of storage timeframes are detailed. It also includes information on the distribution of the current global inventory of spent fuel by storage systems, a description of (and terminology relating to) available spent fuel storage technologies and different storage facility locations.

The publication aims to support the safe and effective management of radioactive waste from past activities by presenting focused information on the specific challenges associated with such waste and providing guidance on how to develop and implement strategies to address those challenges. The main objective is to describe typical characteristics of legacy wastes and identify the major challenges to their safe management. In support, information gained through analysis of varied experiences, case studies, good practices and lessons learned are given, aiming to provide guidance on strategies for Member States to overcome these challenges, successfully manage their existing legacy waste inventories, and minimize the risk of their creation in the future. The information provided will be of interest to the waste management community, particularly to those responsible for the safe and effective management of radioactive waste from past activities in their respective countries.

This publication provides the operating experience feedback from the events reported to the IAEA's incident reporting system for research reactors (IRSRR) since its launch in 1997. The publication has a focus on the root causes, lessons learned, and corrective actions taken to prevent the occurrence of similar events. It also analyses the key lessons learned from recent events in nuclear power plants that are relevant to research reactors. Reference to other publications that cover research reactor events as well as a description of an operating experience programme are also included. This publication is intended to be used by research reactor operating organizations, regulatory bodies, and designers.