Development of PA/SA for LILW Repository in Slovenia Through the IAEA Cooperation

Abstract

ARAO is the Slovenian public agency responsible for the disposal of radioactive waste. Presently its most important mission is the siting of a repository for low and intermediate level waste (LILW) in Slovenia. Although a location for a repository has no yet been selected, important preliminary activities are ongoing. One of the most important is the preparation of performance and safety assessment (PA/SA) for the planned LILW repository. The work is performed by the joint PA/SA team, which is managed and coordinated by ARAO. The work started already in 1997 with the clarification of the objectives of the PA/SA procedure. In 1999 the first preliminary performance assessment of two safety cases — surface and underground LILW repository on a generic site — was realized. In 2001 ARAO successfully applied for the IAEA technical co-operation (TC) program, which gave fresh impetus to the Slovenian PA/SA activities. Simultaneously with the on-going IAEA programme on PA/SA, our national case is also being developed. In 2002 the deterministic performance assessment for a LILW repository on a generic site was completed. The review of the PA/SA report performed by the IAEA expert mission in May 2003 was very positive about the results and the achieved level of expertise of the joint PA/SA team. It is hoped that the team will be ready to carry out a full performance and safety assessment of the site as soon as it is confirmed. In this paper the work and the results of the joint PA/SA team performed so far, and future plans with the emphasis on the IAEA technical co-operation are presented.