Japanese waste management organisation visits Switzerland
he Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (NUMO) is making a documentary film on national waste management programmes of Finland, France, Sweden and Switzerland. From 6th to 10th June 2013, the cameras of the Japanese film crew were rolling in the Swiss rock laboratories and at Nagra’s head office in Wettingen.
Finland, France, Sweden and Switzerland come high on the list of travel destinations. However, the 13-strong group consisting of film crew and NUMO staff were not looking for the usual tourist sights – underground was where their main interest lay. Deep geological disposal is a key component of the waste management programmes of these four countries. During their one-month tour of Europe, NUMO will capture numerous impressions of these programmes on film.
Top-class Japanese scientists are involved in the research underway in the Swiss rock laboratories at Grimsel and Mont Terri and Japan also contributes to the research budgets. Loaded with video equipment, the NUMO team travelled to the two underground locations to document Nagra researchers at work. The team also filmed at Nagra’s head office, learning from Nagra experts how the six potential siting regions for geological repositories were selected, the role played by the public and regional participation in the site selection process and the timetable foreseen for the process by the Federal Government. The film will appear on the NUMO website at the end of March 2014.