Technical Report NTB 16-02

The Nagra Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) Plan for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste in Switzerland

Nagra's mission is to construct safe deep geological repositories for all radioactive waste arising from the use of nuclear energy and from medicine, industry and research without delay and at reasonable cost. The applications for the general licences required for the repositories will be prepared and submitted within the framework of the Sectoral Plan for Deep Geological Reposi­tories (Sachplan Geologische Tiefenlager). According to Art. 31 par. 1 of the Swiss Nuclear Energy Act (KEG 2003), the operators of nuclear installations are obliged to safely manage all radio­active waste arising from their installations. This includes the necessary preliminary acti­vi­ties such as research and geological investigations. Art. 36 of the Swiss Nuclear Energy Ordi­nance (KEV 2004) specifies the research activities. Art. 36 par. 2 of the KEV states that the licence holders must monitor technological developments, including those relating to organisa­tion and personnel, and must examine the extent to which conclusions may be drawn therefrom concerning the safety and security of the licence holder's installation, in Nagra's case the geological repositories. In a decision of August 2013, the Federal Council concluded that Nagra must submit a Research, Development and Demonstration Plan together with the Waste Manage­ment Programme. The present RD&D Plan is in line with the Federal Council’s decision and in accordance with the regulatory framework in Switzerland.

Two types of repository are foreseen, one for low- and intermediate-level waste (L/ILW) and one for spent fuel, vitrified high-level waste and possibly long-lived ILW (SF/HLW/ILW). Repository implementation involves a stepwise process that takes several decades and a comprehensive planning base for the scientific and engineering work is therefore needed, which is presented in the RD&D (research, development and demonstration) Plan. The main objective of the RD&D Plan is to establish the purpose, scope, nature and timing of future RD&D acti­vi­ties, starting from the different requirements and planning assumptions. The focus is on the activities in the next decade, with broad indications of RD&D activities beyond that.