Namhafte Autorinnen und Autoren aus Sozial-, Rechts-, Natur- und Ingenieurwissenschaften sowie aus der Praxis widmen sich dem noch immer ungelösten Problem der Endlagerung radioaktiver Abfälle. Die einzelnen Beiträge dieses Bandes analysieren, simulieren und bewerten verschiedene Optionen, Folgen und Nebenfolgen rund um das Thema Endlagerung und blicken dabei sowohl auf die Bundesrepublik Deutschland als auch auf den europäischen Kontext, hier die Europäische Union und die Schweiz. Die Beiträge machen dabei auch deutlich, dass Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft das Thema Endlagerung noch lange beschäftigen wird und dass noch einiges an Forschungsarbeit vor uns liegt.

This volume examines the national plans that ten Euratom countries plus Switzerland and the United States are developing to address high-level radioactive waste storage and disposal. The chapters, which were written by 23 international experts, outline European and national regulations, technology choices, safety criteria, monitoring systems, compensation schemes, institutional structures, and approaches to public involvement. Key stakeholders, their values and interests are introduced, the responsibilities and authority of different actors considered, decision-making processes are analyzed as well as the factors influencing different national policy choices. The views and expectations of different communities regarding participatory decision making and compensation and the steps that have been or are being taken to promote dialogue and constructive problem-solving are also considered.​

Focused attention by world leaders is needed to address the substantial challenges posed by disposal of spent nuclear fuel from reactors and high-level radioactive waste from processing such fuel. The biggest challenges in achieving safe and secure storage and permanent waste disposal are societal, although technical challenges remain. Disposition of radioactive wastes in a deep geological repository is a sound approach as long as it progresses through a stepwise decision-making process that takes advantage of technical advances, public participation, and international cooperation. Written for concerned citizens as well as policymakers, this book was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and waste management organizations in eight other countries.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations and guidance on how to plan and perform monitoring and surveillance programmes for disposal facilities for radioactive waste. The Safety Guide considers monitoring and surveillance for near surface disposal facilities, for geological disposal facilities and for facilities for the disposal of waste from mining and from mineral processing. The publication provides recommendations on how to use results from the monitoring and surveillance of radioactive waste disposal facilities over their entire lifetime. It covers the different objectives of monitoring and surveillance for the different periods of the lifetime of disposal facilities, from the initiation of work on a candidate site to the period after closure of the disposal facility.

During the next several years, decisions are expected to be made in several countries on the further development and implementation of the geological disposition option. The Board on Radioactive Waste Management (BRWM) of the U.S. National Academies believes that informed and reasoned discussion of relevant scientific, engineering and social issues can-and should-play a constructive role in the decision process by providing information to decision makers on relevant technical and policy issues. A BRWM-initiated project including a workshop at Irvine, California on November 4-5, 1999, and subsequent National Academies' report to be published in spring, 2000, are intended to provide such information to national policy makers both in the U.S. and abroad. To inform national policies, it is essential that experts from the physical, geological, and engineering sciences, and experts from the policy and social science communities work together. Some national programs have involved social science and policy experts from the beginning, while other programs have only recently recognized the importance of this collaboration. An important goal of the November workshop is to facilitate dialogue between these communities, as well as to encourage the sharing of experiences from many national programs. The workshop steering committee has prepared this discussion for participants at the workshop. It should elicit critical comments and help identify topics requiring in-depth discussion at the workshop. It is not intended as a statement of findings, conclusions, or recommendations. It is rather intended as a vehicle for stimulating dialogue among the workshop participants. Out of that dialogue will emerge the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the National Academies' report.

Over the past decade significant progress has been achieved in the development of waste characterization and control procedures and equipment as a direct response to ever-increasing requirements for quality and reliability of information on waste characteristics. Failure in control procedures at any step can have important, adverse consequences and may result in producing waste packages which are not compliant with the waste acceptance criteria for disposal, thereby adversely impacting the repository. The information and guidance included in this publication corresponds to recent achievements and reflects the optimum approaches, thereby reducing the potential for error and enhancing the quality of the end product. -- Publisher's description.

This book is the last part of a trilogy and concludes a long-term project that focussed on nuclear waste governance in 24 countries. It deals with core themes of the disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW), e.g. the wicked problems of housing nuclear waste disposal facilities, public participation and public discourse, voluntarism and compensation in siting as well as the role of advisory bodies and commissions. The volume reflects on the diverse factors that shape the debate on what can be considered an ”acceptable solution” and on various strategies adopted in order to minimise conflicts and possibly increase acceptability. The various theoretical and empirical contributions shed light on several mechanisms and issues touched upon in these strategies, such as the role of trust, voluntarism, economic interests at stake, compensation, ethics, governance, and participation.