EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Executive summary

Geological repositories for the final disposal of radioactive waste are currently being developed in many countries. These repositories are designed to be inherently safe over the periods of time that are necessary to protect humankind and the environment against the effects of ionising radiation. The issue of maintaining some information and a degree of awareness of the facilities in the future is a challenge that has been much discussed over the past 50 years. Against the background of ever increasing demands by waste management organisations and other stakeholders for international reflection and progress towards viable and shared strategies in this field, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC) launched an initiative on the “Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory (RK&M) Across Generations” – the so-called “RK&M initiative”, that ran from March 2011 to April 2018. The initiative aimed at gaining a theoretically founded, broadly based understanding of the issue, leading to the development of a “toolbox” of methods that will eventually be combined into a strategic action plan for RK&M preservation across generations.

To achieve this goal, the initiative focused on five key questions:

•For which reasons and purposes do we need and want to preserve RK&M about radioactive waste across generations?

•What kind of information needs to be maintained?

•Over which timescales?

•By whom and for whom?

•What can be done now and later to provide maximum continuity and accessibility of RK&M?

Key findings and recommendations

In the past, RK&M preservation efforts were mainly directed at avoiding inadvertent human intrusion through messages and methods focusing on danger and promoting aversion. Although deterring potential intruders remains a valid goal, it was found that this should rather be achieved by supporting an informed and alert attitude towards the required levels of safety, security and societal accordance. More generally, supporting informed decision making in the future – including the decision to access the repository and the waste it contains – was identified as an integral part of responsible radioactive waste management. This is in line with recent recommendations issued by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), as well as with a prudent approach to safety and a conscious attitude to ethics.

Achieving these objectives can only be done in a manner that combines the preservation of records, knowledge and memory. Indeed, it is not just a question of handing down a message, but of keeping that message interpretable, meaningful, credible and usable over time. Moreover, there is no single approach or mechanism that would achieve, on its own, the preservation of RK&M over all timescales. Therefore, the RK&M initiative compiled a list of 35 mechanisms grouped into 9 broad approaches that are described in detail in this report and include the following:

•dedicated record sets and summary files;

•memory institutions (archives; libraries; museums);

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

•markers (both above and below the surface);

•time capsules (both with and without opening strategies);

•culture, education and art (e.g. cultural heritage; alternative reuse of the disposal site; education, research and training; works of art);

•knowledge management (e.g. knowledge retention tools; knowledge sharing philosophy);

•oversight provisions (monitoring; clear and planned responsibilities; land use controls);

•international mechanisms (e.g. international regulations and agreements; international inventories and catalogues);

•regulatory framework (national regulatory framework; safeguards).

The first approach in this list, “dedicated record sets and summary files”, includes two mechanisms that were developed by the initiative:

•Set of essential records (SER) – a unique set of records, selected during the repository lifetime, together aimed at providing sufficient information for current and future generations to ensure an adequate understanding of the repository system and its performance.

•Key information file (KIF) – a single document, produced in a multidisciplinary and participatory manner, intended to inform present and future stakeholders without specialised knowledge.

A sustainable RK&M preservation strategy will combine a number of mechanisms selected from the above compilation into a system. These mechanisms should have different key characteristics in terms of timescales addressed, media, contents, transmission modes, actors and locations. The mechanisms should be integrated with, or complement, one another, refer to each other and provide for diversity and redundancy, with a view to maximising information accessibility, understandability and survivability. Such a preservation strategy inherently requires to be elaborated in a multidisciplinary and participatory process. In particular, RK&M preservation aims at the societal embedding of the repository by creating a holistic disposal project in which the disposal technology, the site design and the societal environment are integrated and mutually supporting. Examples of strategies can be found in this publication.

In addition to this publication, deliverables include a reference bibliography, providing a literature overview of work performed in the field of the preservation of RK&M in relation to radioactive waste management, a catalogue of current laws and regulations regarding RK&M preservation in force in various countries and guidelines on the development of both a KIF and a SER.