Typical course users include:

• Professionals in waste management who have just started a career.
• Experienced professionals in waste management who have changed or broadened respensibilities.
• Masters and PhD students
• Policymakers
• Interest groups

Most of the scientific and engineering development of underground disposal concepts has come from the nuclear industry, although progress has been slow, and, in some countries, more practical experience exists in disposing of other types of hazardous wastes. Past practices in disposal of hazardous waste underground (e.g. liquid injections) have not always been appropriate. It is likely that the environmental requirements for all types of underground disposal will converge towards the approaches and standards being developed for long-lived radioactive waste disposal.

There is a widely acknowledged need to propagate knowledge, both in countries with active underground disposal programmes (where there is a shortage of experts) and in those experiencing delays or slow progress, particularly in radioactive waste disposal programmes, where skilled people move out of the field and knowledge is being lost. Programmes started in the 1970s and 80s are finding their experienced managers retiring - where programmes are 'on hold', the succession of trained staff may be hard to assure. Some countries are only just starting to develop programmes, and here there is a need to provide basic training for people new to the field. A key issue is to develop the confidence of managers in new programmes, by exposing them to the experience of those who have had to make and justify decisions on important public sector matters, such as facility siting or licensing.