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Welcome to the Natural Analogue Working Group website

 

First announcement of the 17th NAWG Workshop
(Monday, 30th August to Friday, 3rd September, 2021, Copenhagen, Denmark and Kangerlussuaq, Greenland)

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:

  • 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 Self Analogues of potential repository sites, assessment of potential doses from radionuclide releases to the far-field and a mini-session covering recent studies on rock matrix diffusion
  • 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, 2021.

 

gap nawgThe Greenland Analogue Project (GAP), Kangerlussuaq

 

 

The International Bentonite Longevity (IBL) project was launched at the kick-off meeting on 22-23 May, 2019 in Sagae-shi in Japan. The project was introduced at the NAWG-15 workshop in Prague and the Clay Conference in Davos in 2017 (see the presentation (2.21 MB) ) and recent progress will be presented at NAWG-17. For future updates follow the website at www.iblproject.com. For further details contact Russell Alexander (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Heini Reijonen (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

 

The bentonite beds exposed in the rived bed at Tsukinono site.