8th – 16th September 2010, Horonobe, Japan

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.

18th - 25th May 2010, Würenlingen, St Ursanne and Meiringen Switzerland

A 8 day course, with lab and field visits, held in Switzerland. Register on-line using the registration form.

Course Programme

This eight-day course is presented by the ITC in collaboration with PSI (Paul Scherrer Institute), Swisstopo and Nagra. The course is designed for anyone with an interest in contaminant retardation in a waste repository host rock and, although focussed primarily on diffusive-transport dominated argillaceous rocks, also looks at advective-transport dominated fractured hard rocks.

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.

Switzerland, 13-17 December, 2010

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).

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.