Start of 60 MEUR EU-H2020 EURAD project / 20.06.2019

Jožef Stefan Institute and 50 other European partners will jointly tackle open issues on safe disposal of radioactive waste within the framework of the European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management. The project is coordinated by ANDRA and will last 5 years.

The Joint Programme will generate and manage knowledge to support EU Member States with their implementation of the Directive 2011/70/Euratom (Waste Directive), taking into account the different magnitudes and stages of advancement of Member State National Programmes. This will encompass:

• Supporting Member-States in developing and implementing their national RD&D programmes for the safe long-term management of their full range of different types of radioactive waste through participation in the RWM Joint Programme; in particular:
• Consolidating existing knowledge for the safe start of operation of the first geological disposal facilities for spent fuel, high-level waste, and other long-lived radioactive waste, and supporting optimization linked with the stepwise implementation of geological disposal; and
• Enhancing knowledge management and transfer between organisations, Member-States and generations.

The Department of Environmental Sciences is involved in CORI work package where we will investigate degradation of organic materials exposed to radiation and quantify organic-cement interactions with sorption and diffusion experiments of selected organic molecules.