Invitation, media conference – Monday, 25th September 2017
The international Clay Conference will take place for the first time in Switzerland in 2017. From 24th to 27th September, around 400 scientists from around the world will come together in the Davos Congress Centre to exchange information and experience on the use of clays for radioactive waste confinement. Clays are being considered in many countries as a potential host rock for a deep geological repository and clay materials are used as engineered barriers in the disposal system.
A media conference will be held to provide information on the key aspects of national research work, as well as an overview of international activities in this field.
The media conference will take place
on Monday, 25th September
at 10.30 am
in the Schwarzhorn Room
in the Davos Congress Centre
at Talstrasse 49a, 7270 Davos Platz.
Please use the “Park” entrance.
You are also invited to attend the Opening Ceremony on Monday, 25th September from 09.15 to 10.30 am. Short welcome speeches will be followed by a presentation by Dr. Thomas Ernst, CEO of Nagra, on the ongoing activities of the organisations supporting the Conference. From 10.00 to 10.30 am, Dr. Piet Zuidema, a member of Nagra’s Executive Board, will talk about safety analyses and long-term safety. The media conference will start at 10.30 am and will last around one hour.
Please register by 21st September, 12.00 noon with Jutta Lang, jutta.lang@nagra.ch oder Tel. 056 437 12 39. If you have any particular wishes in terms of visual materials or interviews, please inform us in advance to allow us to organise this. When you register, please indicate whether you will attend the Opening Ceremony or only the media conference.
The Davos Congress Centre can be reached by public transport and has sufficient parking places.
The Clay Conference 2017 is organised by Nagra in cooperation with ANDRA (France), COVRA (The Netherlands), KORAD (South Korea), NUMO (Japan), NWMO (Canada), ONDRAF/NIRAS (Belgium), POSIVA (Finland), PURAM (Hungary), RWM (United Kingdom), SKB (Sweden), SURAO (Czech Republic) and swisstopo (Switzerland).
According to Swiss nuclear energy legislation, the producers of radioactive waste are responsible for its safe management and disposal. In 1972, the nuclear power plant operators and the Federal Government set up the National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra) to perform this task. Nagra, with headquarters in Wettingen (AG), is the national technical competence centre in the field of deep geological disposal of radioactive waste.
Out of a strong sense of responsibility for the long-term protection of man and the environment, 110 employees are involved daily in performing this important work. The high level of competence is secured by targeted research programmes in two Swiss underground rock laboratories and intensive international collaboration.