Safety Indicators for the Safety Assessment of Radioactive Waste Disposal

FOREWORD Plans for disposing of radioactive waste have raised a number of unique and mostly philosophical problems, mainly due to the very long timescales which have to be considered. While there is general agreement on disposal concepts and on the approach to establishing that disposal facilities are safe, consensus on a number of issues remains to be achieved. To assist in promoting discussion amongst international experts and in developing consensus, the IAEA established a Working Group under the International Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (INWAC). The Working Group started its work in 1991 as the " Working Group on Principles and Criteria for Radioactive Waste Disposal ". With the reorganization in 1995 of IAEA safety standards committees a closer linkage has been established between the Working Group and its parent committee, now titled the Waste Safety Standards Committee (WASSC). The subject of this report, safety indicators complementary to dose and risk, was discussed in the first report of this Working Group " Safety Indicators in Different Time Frames for the Safety Assessment of Underground Radioactive Waste Repositories " (IAEA-TECDOC-767 (1994)). Subsequently an IAEA coordinated research project on the subject was started in 1999. At an early stage of that project, and, in part, as a starting point for the project, the subject of safety indicators in the context of the geological disposal of radioactive waste was reviewed. This report is the product of that review. The report was produced by consultants and critically reviewed by the Working Group on Principles and Criteria for Radioactive Waste Disposal. A number of ideas have been included in the report where there is no consensus on the validity or usefulness in the context of safety indicators. Their inclusion is deliberate to promote further debate with a view to eventual development of consensus. The reports of the Working Group on Principles and Criteria for Radioactive Waste Disposal contain the developing views of experts within the international community and should be of use to those engaged in producing national and international standards and guidance in this area. However, they should not be seen as representing a 'Member State consensus' on the subjects being discussed. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The …