The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, today noted the collective opinion of experts that geological disposal of high level radioactive waste can be realized, and its safety assessed, by methods that are already available. However, lack of public acceptance of geological disposal continued to be a major hurdle to its use in practice. He therefore urged that efforts be stepped up, with IAEA involvement, to reach an international consensus on action concerning geological repositories. In his view, public acceptance of the adequacy of national laws and regulations on the subject, to the extent that they were consistent with standards developed internationally, could thus be enhanced.
Speaking at an International Conference on Geological Repositories in Denver, USA, Dr. ElBaradei said there was no question that the disposition of radioactive waste was a complex issue for which individual states bore primary responsibility. It was equally true that the amounts of such waste were rising and that decisions about long-term disposal needed to be taken forthwith. He therefore urged all States concerned to put the necessary programmes in place and ensure that these were well-defined and transparent, so as to help secure public understanding and acceptance: public involvement in decision-making had to proceed in tandem. Delay, on the other hand, would trigger the need for decisions on a series of short-term remedies, such as provision of enough interim storage space and life extension of such temporary solutions.
For its part, the Agency was now devoting more resources to this issue and could further assist its member States in tackling it in a number of ways. These included:
- intensified information exchange on options and implications;
- providing advisory services to Member States;
- fostering cooperation on state-of-the-art technologies;
- initiating cooperative projects, where appropriate, on design, siting, demonstration of technological feasibility, etc.;
- taking the initiative to establish international safety standards on disposal;
- organizing a multidisciplinary forum so as to pull together an international consensus; and
- encouraging demonstration of safe disposal technologies in underground research facilities, leading to ultimate construction and operation of full-scale geological repositories.
Concluding, Dr. ElBaradei said "The challenge for the international community is...to narrow the gap in safety perceptions and make progress towards solutions that are both technically sound and enjoy public acceptance."
Read Dr. ElBaradei's full statement.