The presence of several barriers serving complementary safety functions enhances confidence that radioactive waste placed in deep geological repositories will be adequately isolated and contained to protect human health and the environment. The barriers include the natural geological barrier and the engineered barrier system (EBS). The EBS itself may comprise a variety of sub-systems or components, such as the waste form, container, buffer, backfill, seals and plugs. Given the importance of this subject, the Integration Group for the Safety Case (IGSe of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) sponsored a series of workshops with the European Commission to develop greater understanding of how to achieve the necessary integration for the successful design, testing, modelling and performance assessment of EBS for deep underground disposal of radioactive waste. These proceedings present the main findings from, and the papers delivered at, the fourth NEA-EC workshop on EBS, which took place in Tokyo, Japan, in September 2006. This final workshop of the series focused on strategies and methods to demonstrate that EBS designs will fulfil the relevant requirements for long-term safety, engineering feasibility and quality assurance. The workshop highlighted that large-scale experiments have confirmed the feasibility of techniques for manufacturing and installing engineered components in disposal systems and have also provided valuable lessons to improve designs and refine practical aspects to construct and implement EBS.

On cover and title page: Radioactive waste management.

In the deep disposal of radioactive waste, the presence of several barriers serving complementary safety functions enhances confidence that the waste will be isolated and contained to protect human health and the environment. The barriers include the natural geological barrier and the engineered barrier system (EBS). The EBS itself may comprise a variety of sub-systems or components, such as the waste form, container, buffer, backfill, seals and plugs. These proceedings include the main findings and presented papers from the third NEA-EC workshop on engineered barrier systems, which focused on the role of EBS modelling in the safety case for deep disposal. The workshop examined the modelling tools currently available and identified complex areas of assessment in which further dialogue is needed.

These proceedings present the main findings from, and the papers delivered at, the fourth NEA-EC workshop on Engineered Barrier Systems (EBS), which took place in Tokyo, Japan, in September 2006. This final workshop of the series focused on strategies and methods to demonstrate that EBS designs will fulfill he relevant requirements for long-term safety, engineering feasibility and quality assurance. The workshop highlighted that large-scale experiments have confirmed the feasibility of techniques for manufacturing and installing engineered components in disposal systems and have also provided.

These proceedings present the main findings from, and the papers delivered at, the fourth NEA-EC workshop on Engineered Barrier Systems (EBS), which took place in Tokyo, Japan, in September 2006. This final workshop of the series focused on strategies and methods to demonstrate that EBS designs will fulfill the relevant requirements for long-term safety, engineering feasibility and quality assurance. The workshop highlighted that large-scale experiments have confirmed the feasibility of techniques for manufacturing and installing engineered components in disposal systems and have also provided valuable lessons to improve designs and refine practical aspects to construct and implement EBS. --Publisher's description.

"A joint NEA-EC workshop entitled ""Engineered Barrier Systems (EBS) in the Context of the Entire Safety Case"" was organized in Oxford on 25-27 September 2002 and hosted by United Kingdom Nirex Limited. The main objectives of the workshop were to provide a status report on engineered barrier systems in various national radioactive waste management programs considering deep geological disposal; to establish the value to member countries of a project on EBS; and to define such a project's scope, timetable and modus operandi. This report presents the outcomes of this workshop."