Sector colleagues come together to collaborate on future geological disposal research at annual Nuclear Waste Services event
Nearly 200 nuclear waste experts, students and academics attended the Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) Research Support Office (RSO) annual conference in Sheffield from 11 to 12 January.
The two-day conference saw talks, industry speakers and panels discuss cutting edge research on geological disposal, showcasing early-stage research into the topic, funded and supported by NWS.
Nuclear bodies in attendance included the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Office for Nuclear Regulation, British Geological Survey, National Nuclear Laboratory and the Environment Agency.
The event’s keynote speaker, Neil Hyatt Chief Scientific Advisor at NWS, said: "This was a fantastic opportunity for true knowledge exchange between academia and industry, demonstrating the vibrant and diverse community we have built, and showcasing the hard work of the next generation of geological disposal researchers - it makes me feel proud and excited for the future. We are the peak of innovation right now in our field, it’s such an exciting time to be working in nuclear. It was excellent to celebrate the work of our students, who will be our future workforce driving forward key research for fundamental programme, such as the GDF programme.
Peter Keech, Nuclear Waste Management Organization, Canada, added: "The Research Support Office is an exemplar industry and academia interaction, and I’ve enjoyed the conference. It’s fantastic to see the UK and Canadian GDF programmes complementing each other, particularly as NWMO is looking for more international partners for academic research. The learning I’m taking back to NWMO for academic engagement is to really encourage and enable interdisciplinary thinking across our academic community.
The research programme at NWS is integral activity which guides our evidence-based approach to delivering a GDF. The work will inform the selection of a site for development and the facility’s safety case and design.
The Nuclear Waste Services Research Support Office (RSO) is a collaboration between The University of Manchester and The University of Bristol to harness UK university capabilities to help support radioactive waste management solutions.
In its first two years it has built participation across 17 UK universities and ten discipline areas, ranging from material science to social science, and geology to applied mathematics. The RSO is now supporting 33 PhD students, four post-doctoral research associates and has 52 active PhD research projects.
It is dedicated to engaging with academia and support the delivery of independent evidence-based research to underpin implementation of a UK Geological Disposal Facility (GDF). The RSO recently contributed towards the University of Manchester winning the prestigious Bhattacharyya award for best collaboration between academia and industry.
The aim is to harness the UK’s vast array of academic research capabilities in geological disposal science and technology and to identify and develop research to support the safe geological disposal of the UK’s higher activity radioactive wastes.
NWS is responsible for the delivery of a GDF and is already engaging with three communities about whether hosting a facility is right for them. A GDF will only be built where there is a suitable site and willing community.
A GDF will make a major contribution to the environment by safely and finally disposing of waste which otherwise would have to be stored and maintained for thousands of years above ground.
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