Euradwaste '08 - EU Bookshop - Europa

tions. EDRAM is another example of cooperation between WMOs from EU member states (with
active geological disposal programmes and Underground Research Laboratories) and the USA,
Canada and Japan.
The panellists then presented their statements before the word was given to the floor.
C. McCombie and J. Mathieson reported on two specific EC funded projects, SAPIERR I and II and
CATT respectively, that were launched as part of the 6th Euratom Framework Programme to explore
how Member States with relatively small amounts of nuclear waste can implement long-term
solutions through collaboration.
Charles McCombie: SAPIERR
Shared repositories have been investigated over the past 3 years in the SAPIERR projects. The objective
of SAPIERR I (Support Action: Pilot Acton for European Regional Repositories) was to explore
the feasibility of regional European solutions for deep geological disposal, mainly in terms
strategy and legal aspects. The project was coordinated by DECOM of the Slovak Republic. The
present SAPIERR II project (Strategic Action Plan for Implementation of Regional European Repositories)
examines in more detail specific organisational, legal, societal, economic, safety and security
issues that directly influence the practicability and acceptability of such facilities. The project
is coordinated by COVRA, the Dutch WMO. The goal of the project was to propose a practical
implementation strategy and organisational structures to create a formalised, structured organisation
for implementing shared EU radioactive waste storage and disposal activities. The tasks proposed
in the project are designed to meet this goal:
1. Preparation of a management study on the legal and business options for establishing a
European Development Organisation (EDO) leading to one or more proposed frameworks
(options) for such an organisation;
2. A study on the legal liability issues of international waste transfer within Europe. Even in
national disposal programmes, the issues associated with long-term transfer of liabilities are
complex;
3. A study of the potential economic advantages but also benefits of European regional storage
facilities and repositories. The economic implications are analyzed at local, national and regional
level;
4. Outline examination of the safety and security impacts of implementing one or two regional
stores or repositories relative to a number of national facilities;
5. A review of public and political attitudes in Europe towards the concept of shared regional
repositories;
6. Development of practical implementation strategy. Should we set up an EDO? This part of
the project is more related to political/strategical aspects, than research. Therefore, policymakers
from some twenty different European countries have been invited to participate in
the follow-on working group and defined terms of reference, organisational form, programme
etc. of the EDO.
The countries that have confirmed participation in the working group to date are: Bulgaria, Czech
Republic, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
The first meeting of the working group will be held together with the closing seminar of the SAPI-
ERR II project 20 th of January 2009 in Brussels.
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