Who manages and monitors our nuclear waste?

In Belgium, the National Institute for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials (ONDRAF), an independent public agency, is responsible for managing radioactive waste. Specifically, this includes the following tasks:

• Conducting an inventory: To organise waste management effectively, ONDRAF continuously compiles an inventory to determine the quantity and types of waste and reviews the nuclear asset portfolio every 5 years. It also estimates future waste volumes, assesses the condition of all nuclear sites and facilities containing radioactive substances in Belgium, and estimates the short- and long-term costs of decommissioning and decontamination.
• Remediation and Decommissioning: Belgoprocess, ONDRAF’s industrial subsidiary, is remediating Belgoprocess Sites 1 and 2 in Dessel and Mol. ONDRAF is also responsible for the decommissioning and decontamination of part of the former Best Medical Belgium S.A. site in Fleurus.
• Scientific research: All of ONDRAF’s activities are supported by scientific research programs, conducted in collaboration with Dutch and international experts. At the HADES underground laboratory in Mol, ONDRAF has been studying the geological disposal of long-lived waste for forty years.
• Policy development: ONDRAF prepares all government decisions regarding radioactive waste management, providing specific expertise to policymakers.
• Socioeconomic investments: In collaboration with the local partnerships STORA (Dessel) and MONA (Mol), ONDRAF undertakes initiatives related to surface disposal to enhance the well-being and prosperity of the Campine region.
• Participation and engagement: ONDRAF places great importance on public participation and engagement. For example, it organizes public forums and statutory public consultations to build broad local support. There is also a new visitor and information center in Dessel, called TABLOO.
• Long-term financing of activities: ONDRAF sets aside provisions to finance the long-term management of radioactive waste. These provisions are deposited into funds specifically established for this purpose: the long-term fund and the medium-term fund.

To optimise the geological disposal of high-level and/or long-lived radioactive waste, ONDRAF and SCK CEN have signed a common position paper on research into the feasibility of transmutation using an accelerator-driven system (the MYRRHA project). Separation and transmutation make it possible to convert long-lived radioactive substances into short-lived ones. However, underground disposal remains necessary, both for long-lived radioactive substances that cannot be transmutated and for long-lived residual products resulting from transmutation. This technique is also not applicable to waste that has already been conditioned.

Belgoprocess, a subsidiary of ONDRAF, ensures the safe and efficient treatment of our nuclear waste from across the entire nuclear sector—ranging from nuclear power plants to the medical and technological sectors—at its facility in Dessel. After being identified and sorted, the waste is then compacted. The resulting residues are then stored in drums in dedicated buildings at the Dessel site (province of Antwerp). Each phase of this process adheres to the strictest safety procedures, depending on the type of radioactive waste. Consequently, it poses no danger to the public or the environment.

Nuclear power plant operators also have their own waste treatment systems for conditioning nuclear waste. Conditioning refers to the treatment and containment of radioactivity so that it cannot escape from the waste packaging. Belgoprocess primarily stores low- and intermediate-level waste in Dessel that is not located at the nuclear power plant site. Storage takes place in buildings specifically designed for this purpose. A small amount of high-level waste from fuel reprocessing is already stored in a bunker specially adapted for this purpose. Thanks to its extremely robust design, this one-of-a-kind building can withstand the most severe accident scenarios, such as an aircraft impact.

Finally, the AFCN (Federal Agency for Nuclear Control) ensures that ONDRAF, as the waste manager, provides a waste management system that offers the necessary safeguards to protect the public and the environment from the dangers of ionising radiation associated with this type of waste. The AFCN also checks whether waste producers are carrying out their work safely, including the sorting and characterisation of waste. The AFCN draws up specific regulations for these facilities (in particular technical manuals for surface storage and deep geological disposal).