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ESDRED, Engineering Studies and Demonstrations of Repository Designs

Introduction

With a five-year programme and a budget of EUR 18 million (of which EUR 7.3 million is from the Framework Programme), the overall objective of the ESDRED project is to demonstrate, with the use of industrial-size prototypes, the technical feasibility of the different activities relating to the construction, operation and closure of a deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste, in particular:

the construction and installation of engineered barriers around waste packages,
the transport and emplacement of waste packages in the disposal cells, and
the use of specific cements and their emplacement through shotcrete techniques to build disposal cell sealing plugs or to reinforce underground structures.

NRG will study the reversibility and retrievability principles in the various concepts.

Framework

NRG participates in this European Integrated Project ESDRED (Engineering Studies and Demonstrations of Repository Designs), which is part of the European Union (EU) 6th Euratom Framework Programme for Nuclear Research and Training (2002 - 2006). The project is co-ordinated by the French national radioactive waste management agency (ANDRA) and involves in total thirteen partners from eight EU Member States and one Associated Country. The contract between the European Commission and the individual partners was signed on March 4th 2004.

Specific demonstration activities include:

the construction of full-scale technological prototypes to test underground disposal operations for which industrial or mining experience is currently lacking, and
the development of technological solutions adapted to repository designs, especially with a view to minimising any disturbance to the geological environment, as a means of ensuring the long-term safety of a repository.

Training

A special programme involving the training of engineers and the transfer of technologies, especially intended for the new Members States of the European Union, will be proposed throughout the project, primarily in the form of secondment opportunities and/or seminars.

Partners:

Radioactive Waste Management Agencies:	Technological R&D Organisations:
ANDRA, France ENRESA, Spain NAGRA, Switzerland NIREX, United Kingdom ONRAF/NIRAS, Belgium POSIVA, Finland SKB, Sweden	AITEMIN, Spain CSIC, Spain DBE TECHNOLOGY, Germany ESV EURIDICE, Belgium GRS, Germany NRG, The Netherlands

More information:
NRG, Radiation & Environment
Email: haverkate@nrg.eu