ITC School - Meiringen, Switzerland - Geologic Disposal of High Level Waste

Geologic Disposal of High Level Waste

2nd to 5th September 2008, Las Vegas, USA

This course covers international experience in key aspects of deep geologic disposal of spent fuel and high level radioactive waste that are needed to form the components of a national program, with a special emphasis on the current US HLW program. The course will take place immediately before the 2008 International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management (IHLRWM) conference, which is also being held again in Las Vegas.

Course Outline

This course is run in collaboration with the United States Department of Energy and includes senior staff from the current and recent US programs, national laboratories and review boards. It covers international experience in key aspects of deep geologic disposal of spent fuel and high level radioactive waste that are needed to form the components of a national program, with a special emphasis on the current US HLW program. About half of the participants are expected to come from USDOE, providing an excellent opportunity for networking and learning in depth about the current program status. The course will take place in Las Vegas from 2nd to 5th September, immediately before the 2008 International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management (IHLRWM) conference (September 7th to 11th), which is also being held in Las Vegas, so participants can efficiently combine the two events.

Prior to the course, there will a full-day field visit to the Yucca Mountain site and associated locations of relevance to understanding the long-term behavior of the proposed repository and its environment. The course itself runs over three days and combines lectures and discussions on the fundamentals of HLW disposal, interactive evaluation of issues associated with historic radioactively contaminated areas and issues associated with the future of the international nuclear fuel cycle.

The course programme can be downloaded here ( PDF 64 kb).

Venue

The course will be held at the 'New York, New York' Hotel & Casino, which is centrally situated on the Las Vegas 'Strip' (http://www.nynyhotelcasino.com). Rooms will be booked for participants at this hotel. You should plan to arrive by Monday evening, 1st September, as the field visit will depart early the following morning. Rooms will be booked for you until departure Saturday morning, 6th September.

Course Fee and Registration Deadlines

The course fees cover hotel accommodation at New York, New York for five nights (Monday 1st September arrival, Saturday 6th departure), continental breakfast from Wednesday through Friday, transport and lunch for the Yucca Mountain field visit, course notes and other materials.

CHF 4400. - ITC members

CHF 4890. - non-members

The course fee is due within four weeks of your registration. Registration is not guaranteed until we have received the course fee. If you have to withdraw from the course before 2nd August 2008 after paying your fee, it will be refunded in full. After this date, it is not refundable.

Online Registration

Registration is now closed. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: July 21st 2008

Insurance

Please note that participants on this course, or their employing organisations, are responsible for their own personal insurance.

Last Updated ( Monday, 01 December 2008 )

Upcoming courses offered by ITC :

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In collaboration with JAEA and the IAEA Network of Centres of Excellence.

You can register on-line using this registration form.

Course Outline

This is an extended and updated version of our regular ‘Fundamentals’ course which ranges across all key aspects and topical issues concerned with managing a geological disposal programme (previous ‘Fundamentals’ courses were held in 2003, 2004 and 2006). The extended 2010 course includes a one-day practical exercise in and around JAEA’s underground research laboratory at Horonobe.
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A 8 day course, with lab and field visits, held in Switzerland. Register on-line using the registration form.

Course Programme

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This is a novel course looking at all aspects of the definition of contaminant retardation in a repository host rock and begins with the basic definition of clays and works through various features of PSI laboratory and modelling investigation of contaminant retardation properties (http://les.web.psi.ch/groups/index.html). The course includes demonstration of various laboratory procedures and visits to two Underground Research Laboratories (URL): Mont Terri (www.mont-terri.ch), in St Ursanne in northern Switzerland and the Grimsel Test Site (www.grimsel.com) just below the Grimsel Pass in southern Switzerland.
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Online course registration is available here.

Course Outline

This course will be a repeat of the ITC course on the uses of cement and cementitious materials in the geological disposal of radioactive waste (June, 2008 in Finland and December, 2008 in Switzerland). The 5 day programme for December 2010 features seven, interlinked, modules which cover all aspects of the use of cementitious materials in radwaste disposal. Sufficient time will be allocated for questions and discussions in each presentation module and afterwards, over coffee and lunch.

In addition to formal teaching (including group exercises and field visits) each course participant is required to prepare a pre- and post-assignment related to the course. The purpose of the assignment is that the participants devise a specific cement-related topic to focus on during the course (see details below).
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Preliminary Programme

Carbon Capture and Storage: can anything be learned from 35 years experience in geological disposal of radioactive wastes ?

.. an informal workshop to discuss common issues

April 27th to 30th 2010, Meiringen, Switzerland

Online course registration is available here. Updated course program for download here 231 KB .

Objective

Geological disposal of radioactive wastes (GDRW) has taken more than 35 years of concept development and field and laboratory research to reach the point where deep repositories should be operating within the next few years: all of this has taken place on the back of a strategic, societal and political rollercoaster. The CCS field is comparatively in its infancy but is moving forward quickly and has considerable technical, political, societal and energy strategy parallels. Consequently it is likely to be exposed to some of the same issues and to tread some of the same paths as GDRW. While many in the CCS community see GDRW as an entirely unenviable analogue, it would seem unwise to ignore the lessons that might be learned – not only may there be something to be gained practically, but it may be possible to avoid some pitfalls. This workshop is intended to bring together experienced practitioners in the CCS and GDRW sectors in a completely informal, non-institutional environment to discuss their experiences and help identify what might be shared or learned. Discussions will be citable but non-attributable. The organizers will also endeavour to produce a written perspective on key outcomes, for publication.
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