ESDRED: Engineering Studies and Demonstration of Repository Designs

The Integrated Project known as ESDRED is a joint research effort by major national radioactive waste management agencies (or subsidiaries of agencies) and by research organisations, representing nine European countries.

ESDRED, part of the European Union 6 ^th Euratom Framework Programme for Nuclear Research and Training (2002-2006), is a major step towards:

• Establishing a sound technical basis for demonstrating the safety of disposing spent fuel and other high-level and long-lived radioactive waste in deep geological formations (up to hundreds of meters below surface) and to
• Underpin the development of a common European view on the main issues related to the management and disposal of radioactive waste

To identify the key technological issues, a review of the various activities involved in the construction and closure of a repository has been performed with regard to the existing or easily adaptable technologies available within Mining, Civil and Nuclear Engineering.

SCK•CEN's expert group EIG EURIDICE contributes to experiments intended to show the feasibility of manufacturing a supercontainer.

Website: www.esdred.info