“It has taken many years and a great deal of commitment from our employees to prepare this project down to the smallest detail,” says Marc Demarche, Director General of NIRAS/ONDRAF, Nagra’s Belgian counterpart. “This project” refers to the construction and operation of a surface disposal facility for Belgium’s low- and intermediate-level waste, but not for its high-level waste. The facility is being constructed in Dessel, around 70 kilometres north-east of Brussels. However, drilling rigs or tunnelling machines, tell-tale signs of underground work, will not be dotting the Dessel construction site. Unlike Switzerland, Belgium has decided to store these waste types at the surface. The foundation stone has now been laid.
How the surface disposal facility works
Belgium’s low- and intermediate-level waste is to be enclosed in a total of around 29,000 large concrete containers, which are then emplaced in massive concrete storage bunkers. Construction and operation will take around 50 years. The facility will then be sealed with natural and synthetic materials. Eventually, only two green, roughly 20-metre-high hills will remain visible. The facility will be monitored for a 300-year period.
At the laying of the foundation stone, Director General Demarche emphasised the importance of collaborating with the two neighbouring municipalities of Dessel and Mol. For the past 25 years, the population had been invited to actively shape the project.
Being remembered in the future
Parallel to the construction site, the NIRAS/ONDRAF visitor centre Tabloo is opening a new temporary exhibition entitled “Dear Time”. It addresses one of the major issues connected to the disposal of radioactive waste: how can we ensure that future generations will remember surface disposal facilities and deep geological repositories and continue to monitor them?
Through art, science and contributions of society, the exhibition reflects on the nature of time and cross-generational responsibility.