Conference on knowledge and information transfer across generations


Passing on knowledge and information on deep geological repositories to future generations poses a special challenge.

From 15th to 17th September, around 200 experts from 17 countries came together in Verdun (France) for a conference on intergenerational knowledge and information transfer. The conference was organised by the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) of the OECD as part of the international RK&M project (Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory of Radioactive Waste across Generations).

Summarising the tasks of the international project, Anne Claudel, Head of Information Managment in Nagra (National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste), said „Previously, the focus of knowledge transfer in the context of waste disposal was on warning future generations of the hazards present underground“. Today, however, ethical questions play a much more important role. How can we provide information to future generations in such a way that will allow them to understand what is located underground and put them in a position to make appropriate decisions for themselves.

One important finding of the project is that as many different information channels as possible should be used for communication. The multidisciplinary participants at the conference therefore discussed a wide range of topics – not only the disposal of radioactive waste itself but also archiving, cultural heritage, industrial archaeology, politics and regulation.

The RK&M project has been running as an international platform for four years. The members of the project are organisations from Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the USA. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is also involved.

Deutschlandfunk Reports on the Conference in VerdunPress

Release NEA

Conference on Remembering Radioactive Waste