Natural Analogues Working Group

NAWG-17: First announcement!

First announcement of the 17th NAWG Workshop
Tuesday, 30th November to Thursday, 2nd December, 2021
Biel/Bienne, Switzerland

View of Biel/Bienne old town

The NAWG-17 workshop will be an opportunity to explore recent developments in the use of natural analogues (NA) in supporting safety cases (SC) for the disposal of radioactive wastes. Argumentation by use of analogy is well established in many fields including philosophy, biology, linguistics and law and most scientists are familiar with this approach and will have used it at some point in their career. If you are keen to learn more, why not come along? Currently, the aim is to discuss:

Strategic planning of natural analogue support for the safety case: with examples from several national programmes

Near-field studies: including corrosion of copper and steel canisters and the long-term stability of the bentonite buffer, with examples from various forms of disturbance.

Far-field studies: including Regional Analogues of potential repository sites and a review of recent information on the real impact of matrix diffusion on radionuclide releases

Stakeholder communication: including examples of approaches used to communicate different aspects of waste disposal to both technical and non-technical audiences

for the 3 day workshop, followed by a 1 day field trip (details to be announced)

The above themes are but a few examples and we are open to any suggestions to broaden the scope of the meeting - please drop the NAWG chairman, Russell Alexander (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), a line with your ideas and comments. Full details of the agenda will be made available on the NAWG web site (www.natural-analogues.com) shortly.

To register for the NAWG-17 workshop, please contact Russell before Friday, 8th October, 2021 using the registration form which can be downloaded from the NAWG web site.

View over Lake Biel/Bienne

NAWG-18: First announcement!

First announcement of the 18th NAWG Workshop
(Monday, 29th August to Friday, 2nd September, 2022, Copenhagen, Denmark and Kangerlussuaq, Greenland)

The NAWG-18 workshop will be an opportunity to explore recent developments in the use of natural analogues (NA) in supporting safety cases (SC) for the disposal of radioactive wastes. Argumentation by use of analogy is well established in many fields including philosophy, biology, linguistics and law and most scientists are familiar with this approach and will have used it at some point in their career. If you are keen to learn more, why not come along?

Currently, the aim is to discuss:

Waste form stability: including vitrified waste stability and spent fuel evolution
Near-field studies: including corrosion of copper and steel canisters and the long-term stability of the bentonite buffer. This will include a mini-session on the IBL (International Bentonite Longevity) project
Far-field studies: including Regional Analogues of potential repository sites, assessment of potential doses from radionuclide releases to the far-field
Stakeholder communication: including examples of approaches used to communicate different aspects of waste disposal to both technical and non-technical audiences

For some 2.5 days, followed by a 1.5 day field trip to Kangerlussuaq, the main site of the study of the potential impact of glaciation processes on deep radioactive waste disposal in GAP (the Greenland Analogue Project).

These are but a few examples and we are open to any suggestions to broaden the scope of the meeting - please drop Russell Alexander (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) a line with your ideas and comments. Full details will be made available on the NAWG web page (www.natural-analogues.com) shortly. To register to participate in the workshop, please contact Russell before 15th August, 2022.

gap nawg The Greenland Analogue Project (GAP), Kangerlussuaq