BGE TECHNOLOGY GmbH Visits Research and Industry Partners in Australia
On the road in APAC: first impressions of Perth, Australia.
Colleagues from BGE TECHNOLOGY GmbH, Galson Sciences Limited, Posiva Solutions, and Fortum during a working visit to Australia.
In February 2026, Dr. Toivo Wanne and Tilman Fischer of BGE TECHNOLOGY GmbH (BGE TEC) travelled to Australia as part of a broader Asia-Pacific engagement programme. The visits covered three locations — Perth, Adelaide, and Sydney — and involved exchanges with research institutions and industry partners active in the field of radioactive waste management.
In Perth, BGE TEC met with an industry partner to discuss the operational status and experience of a near-surface disposal facility for hazardous and low-level radioactive waste. The discussions addressed how experience from an operational facility can be transferred for the benefit of the broader international disposal community.
In Adelaide, BGE TEC convened a working session with invited specialists from Galson Sciences Limited (United Kingdom), Posiva Solutions (Finland) and Fortum (Finland). The discussions focused on strategic and technical collaboration in radioactive waste management, drawing on the respective national experience of the organisations represented. The composition of the group reflected the value of combining expertise from programmes at different stages of development: from Germany's repositories for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste to Finland's deep geological repository programme at Onkalo. The exchange provided an opportunity to compare methodological approaches and identify areas for continued cooperation across national programmes.
Also in Adelaide, Dr. Wanne and Tilman Fischer visited the facilities of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) at the Waite Campus to discuss current activities in radioactive waste management research.
In Sydney, they met with technical consultancy companies active in the environmental and engineering sectors to discuss areas of potential shared work in radioactive waste management in the Asia-Pacific context.
The Australian visits formed part of a wider Asia-Pacific engagement undertaken by BGE TEC in the first half of 2026, which also included bilateral meetings with organisations in East and South-East Asia. Across these activities, the focus was on the exchange of technical experience, the further development of existing partnerships and the identification of new areas for cooperation in radioactive waste disposal.
BGE TEC brings to these exchanges experience accumulated across more than 25 years of work in repository research and development, site selection support, safety assessment and engineering design. The technical challenges associated with the safe disposal of radioactive waste are shared across national programmes and benefit from systematic cross-border exchange.