Technology Transfer Project between UK and Germany Initiated

Radioactive Waste Management Ltd (RWM) is the organisation responsible for implementing the HLW disposal programme in the UK and for providing radioactive waste management solutions. It aims at building on existing knowledge available in the UK and adapts relevant solutions to the UK situation where this knowledge meets the needs of a national disposal system. As part of RWM's collaboration work to learn from the experience of other geological disposal programmes, the organisation commissioned studies to explore the benefits of sharing technologies for geological disposal concepts developed for higher strength rocks and lower strength sedimentary rocks. In order to support the current UK siting process, RWM would like to develop its understanding of the applicability of technology developed in Germany to the UK situation. To facilitate this process, RWM has tasked DBE TECHNOLOGY GmbH with a project to familiarise RWM with the relevant German technologies and approaches.As a starting point for this endeavour, a workshop was organised by DBE TECHNOLOGY GmbH in Peine on May 23^rd and 24^th. Senior scientists of RWM were given the possibility to see and discuss several facets of geologic disposal of radioactive waste. A visit of the disposal facility of Morsleben showed the features of a repository in salt and also allowed exploring the processes and technologies for constructing, operating, and closing a geologic repository. Following the visit, the workshop continued in Peine with presentations of the repository projects, both in the UK and in Germany, and with an introduction into selected development and demonstration technologies, especially for repositories in salt.