Safe management of radioactive waste is challenging to waste producers and waste management organisations. Deployment of thermal treatment technologies can provide significant improvements: volume reduction, waste passivation, organics destruction, safety demonstration facilitation, etc. The EC-funded THERAMIN project enables an EU-wide strategic review and assessment of the value of thermal treatment technologies applicable to Low and Intermediate Level waste streams (ion exchange media, soft operational waste, sludges, organic waste, and liquids). THERAMIN compiles an EU-wide database of wastes, which could be treated by thermal technologies and documents available thermal technologies. Applicability and benefits of technologies to the identified waste streams will be evaluated through full-scale demonstration tests by project partners. Safety case implications will also be assessed through the study of the disposability of thermally treated waste products. This paper will communicate the strategic aims of the ongoing project and highlight some key findings and results achieved to date.

In 2009, ONDRAF/NIRAS, the Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials, established a six-year research, development and demonstration (RD&D) programme to explore the feasibility of its concept for the geological disposal of Category B and C radioactive waste in Belgium. This programme, generally referred to as the ‘B&C Techno project’, aims to acquire evidence and build arguments in order to demonstrate that the proposed disposal system can be constructed, operated and progressively closed, taking into account long-term safety requirements and operational safety requirements.Galson Sciences Ltd (GSL) has been supporting the co-ordination of the activities involved in this project. This support has included synthesis of research outputs, and the development of various tools and methods to demonstrate that the Belgian geological disposal concept is feasible to implement. Two examples of studies conducted by GSL for ONDRAF/NIRAS as part of the B&C Techno project to substantiate feasibility are described in this paper: A review of other national geological disposal concepts to identify transferable experience relating to the feasibility of constructing, and assembling comparable disposal system components.Development of a storyboard illustrating the different steps involved in disposing of Category B and C waste.

Under Work Package 2 (WP2) of THERAMIN, strategic reviews of thermal treatment technologies and European radioactive waste streams for which thermal treatment could bring benefits have been undertaken. This paper presents the outcomes of an international review of inventory information concerning European wastes potentially suitable for thermal treatment, a review of thermal treatment technologies, and a strategic gap analysis to identify countries where there are significant waste arisings with potential benefits for thermal treatment, but little prospect of these countries developing thermal treatment facilities independently.

Orphan wastes have properties preventing them from being managed according to existing or currently planned management routes, or lack characterisation so that their management is uncertain. The identification of new management opportunities for orphan wastes could realise significant benefits by reducing the number of processing facilities required, reducing waste volumes, reducing hazard or leading to the development of centres of excellence for the processing of certain types of orphan wastes. Information on the characteristics of orphan waste existing at nuclear licensed sites across the UK has been collated and a database developed to act as a repository for the information gathered. The database provides a capability to analyse the data and to explore possible treatment technologies for each orphan waste type. Thirty five distinct orphan waste types have been defined and possible treatment options considered. Treatment technologies (including chemical, high temperature, immobilisation and physical technologies) that could be applied to one or more of the generic orphan waste streams have been identified. Wiring diagrams have been used to highlight the waste treatment / lifecycle management options that are available for each of the generic orphan groups as well as identifying areas for further research and development. This work has identified the potential for optimising the management of orphan wastes in a number of areas, and many potential opportunities were identified. Such opportunities could be investigated by waste managers at waste producing nuclear sites, to facilitate the development of new management routes for orphan wastes.

The Full-Scale Demonstration Of Plugs And Seals (DOPAS) Project is a European Commission programme of work jointly funded by the Euratom Seventh Framework Programme and European nuclear waste management organizations (WMOs). The DOPAS Project aims to improve the industrial feasibility of plugs and seals, the measurement of their characteristics, the control of their behaviour over time in repository conditions, and their hydraulic performance with respect to safety objectives.Within the project, an approach has been developed and applied to assess the compliance of two of the full-scale experiments to their design bases. The approach involves a review of each requirement in the design basis and the strategy used to demonstrate compliance of the experiment with that requirement. Feedback in the form of proposed updates to the design statements is captured by this approach. Learning points on plugs and seals from the compliance assessment are also noted for consideration in the DOPAS Project outcomes. This developed compliance and assessment approach can be employed as part of, or in conjunction with, other more generic approaches used by WMOs, including monitoring, full-scale testing and the documentation of construction procedures.