GEOSAF-Meeting

F. Boissier, S. Voinis, S. Barlow

Operational Safety- IGSC Expert Group on Operational Safety (EG-OS)

DMR/DIR/14-0109

May 2014, Vienna

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Mandate of the EG-OS

Mandate approved in March 2013 at the RWMC -46

A two- years duration mandate renewable at the discretion of the IGSC.

 Overall, the group members representatives from : waste management agencies,

regulatory authorities,

technical support organizations,

research and development institutions with hands-on experience or working towards that goal in relatively short time scales,

IAEA invited as observer in the group, as well as the leaders of other international projects.

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EG-OS 1st annual meeting

Held on June 24, 2013, in Paris; 13 participants from 10 national and international organizations

Elected Chair: Fabrice Boissier, Andra; Vice-Chair: Wilhelm Bollingerfehr, DBE

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EG-OS 1st annual meeting

The following areas were discussed in the 1st meeting:Regulatory aspects of DGR operation and construction in different national programmes

Experience on radiation dose and radiation protection

Transportation, emplacement and operational and construction safety

Knowledge transfer

The EG-OS has adopted the following work activities in the PoW:

Fire risk management (prevention and mitigation, risk assessment)

An NEA “hazard” database

Ventilation in underground facilities

Co-activity hazard

Waste acceptance criteria

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Key outcomes of the 1st EG-OS meeting

Fire risk:

“EG-OS agreed that expert exchanges on fire risk will continue by a group of implementers

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“Hazard” database:

EG-OS members to provide their list of operational hazardssome already received

The Secretariat is also researching existing international “hazard” databases, in particular those developed for nuclear facilities

Ventilation:

A meeting among the expert group of implementers is currently being planned for by the Secretariat, to be held late 2013 or early 2014

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Key outcomes of the 1st EG-OS meeting

Hazards in co-activities:

A questionnaire, drafted by Andra, has been distributed to seek more detailed inputs from members

Some responses already received

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Waste acceptance criteria:

EG-OS has decided to leave this task out until more work in design basis accident is performed

Regulations

Most countries do not have specific regulation for construction and operation of a DGRImportance of identifying gaps between implementersNeed of clear regulatory framework and expectations of regulators

Implementers shall express the key areas where clarifications of regulatory framework are needed to NEA

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National waste management organizations are more or less advanced in their fire studies development.

Most participants consider operational experience from the mining industries relevant and valuable in developing fire protection plan for a DGR.

Many programs develop their fire protection plan using similar defense-in-depth principles:

(i) prevent abnormal situations - limiting flammables

(ii) prevent degradation – early detection, fight fire as soon as possible

(iii) minimize damage – preventing fire spread

Key outcomes of the Fire Experts meeting

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Different fire protection system designs are noted in different countries.

E.g. Canada uses water to fight fire in above-ground facilities and no water will be used underground

Fire fighting equipment depends on waste types

Topics that were pointed out :

Ventilation system design and their functions in a fire

Emergency measures – essential features of refuge stations & evacuation protocols

Design basis scenarios – assumptions used in scenarios; fire modeling, behavior of waste

Develop common fire protection standards / approaches, e.g. adopt similar fire door design requirements.

Two Fire Experts meetings

IGSC _15 - October 10, 2013 Paris (France)

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