Control of the eligibility of waste packages to the Belgian near surface disposal for short lived LL&ILW

In the Belgian radioactive waste management programme, low and intermediate level waste short lived (LLW & ILW SL) are intended to be disposed-off in a near surface disposal facility (called cAt) located in Mol and Dessel, two localities situated in the north of Belgium. The major part of this LLW & ILW SL is produced by the Belgian NPP’s (located in the localities Tihange and Doel), the Belgian nuclear research center (SCK CEN) and the institute for the production of radioisotopes (IRE). The management of radioactive waste is centralized by the Belgian waste management organization (WMO) ONDRAF-NIRAS. This organization has an acceptance system that allows an in-depth control of the compliance of the waste with several waste acceptance criteria (WAC), from the production of the waste to its interim storage in facilities located in Dessel. The WAC have evolved these last years (e.g. considering return of experience and the licensing of cAt). For instance, some new WAC have been defined and some existing WAC, becoming more stringent, revised. It is therefore necessary to assess whether waste packages which have been accepted in the past by ONDRAF-NIRAS based on the previous WAC still comply with the new WAC. A project has been started by the WMO in collaboration with FANC & Bel V (forming together the Belgian nuclear regulatory body) to assess the compliance of LLW & ILW SL accepted by ONDRAF-NIRAS in the past with the current WAC related to cAt. The project aims also at establishing a strategy for demonstrating the compliance using non-destructive and destructive tests (NDT/DT), in complement to the evaluation of the historical characterization data. Finally, the scope of the project includes also the definition of a strategy for demonstrating the compliance to WAC of waste that will be produced in the future using for instance a strengthened control programme at the source (as closed as to the waste production step).