Topical Day CHANCE | Characterisation of conditioned radioactive waste: status, challenges and new developments
Dijle conference room
Van Beethovenstraat 8-10
Mechelen
Overview
Safe interim storage and final disposal of radioactive waste (RW) requires effective characterization and quality control of the waste. The CHANCE project therefore aims to address the specific and complex issue of the characterization of conditioned radioactive waste (CRW) by means of non-destructive analytical (NDA) techniques and methodologies. Characterization issues within CHANCE encompass both physico-chemical characterization and radiological characterization.
The CHANCE project will establish a comprehensive understanding of current characterization methods and quality control schemes for conditioned radioactive waste in Europe. Furthermore, CHANCE will develop, test and validate already-identified and novel techniques that will undoubtedly improve the characterization of CRW. These techniques include:
- Calorimetry as an innovative non-destructive technique to reduce uncertainties on the inventory of radionuclides;
- Muon Tomography to address the specific issue of non-destructive control of the content of large volume nuclear waste;
- Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) as an innovative technique to characterize outgassing of radioactive waste.
During this Topical Day current needs, scientific evolutions and CHANCE highlights concerning conditioned waste characterization using non-destructive techniques will be highlighted. The selected speakers have either operational experience with conditioned waste characterization, or are scientists working on new characterization techniques. This Topical Day therefore also aims at bringing together these two groups of stakeholders.
Audience
The target audience of this Topical Day consists of:
- CHANCE consortium partners and CHANCE End User Group Representatives;
- Students and researchers on development and/or improving of radioactive waste characterization techniques;
- Nuclear waste producers;
- Operators of nuclear waste conditioning facilities and nuclear waste repositories;
- Regulatory authorities and their Technical Support Organisations.
Programme
The full programme can be downloaded here:
Final programme Topical Day CHANCE, March 21, 2019, Mechelen, Belgium.pdf
Required Knowledge
No pre-knowledge required.
Preparation
No preparation is needed.
Price
Participation to the Topical Day and its related activities is free of charge but registration for the different events is mandatory.
Please clearly indicate your participation to the following activities during the registration process:
- Topical Day | presentations | Lamot conference centre;
- Topical Day | reception | Lamot conference centre.
Please note that the visit to Belgoprocess and the 2 social activity programmes are fully booked and that it is no longer possible to participate.
Registration info
You can register by clicking on the orange registration button above taking into account the deadline of February 22, 2019.
Note that the visit to Belgoprocess together with the social activity programme is fully booked and that participation is not longer possible.
Accommodation
Venue
The Topical Day is held at the Lamot Conference Centre in Mechelen, Belgium on March 20-21, 2019.
Accommodation
SCK•CEN made a pre-booking at 2 hotels nearby the course venue. Participants need to book their own accommodation, using the forms or codes indicated by the hotel:
- If you stay at least 2 nights (arrival on March 19 and departure on March 22) | Novotel Mechelen Centrum Hotel at the special arrangement price of 149 EUR per person per night, including breakfast, excluded city tax. Please use the attached "hotel room reservation form";
- If you stay less than 2 nights | NH Mechelen Hotel at the special arrangement price of 149 EUR per person per night, including breakfast, excluded city tax. Please use this link to book your room.
Book of abstracts
View the book of abstracts.
Social Programme
Social activity programme 1 | the chocolate city walk | March 21, 2019 (FULLY BOOKED)
Beer, Chocolate and a nice walk through the city centre of Mechelen … that’s what we will focus on during the “Chocolate city walk”.
During this historical guided tour of 1,5 hours through the city of Mechelen, we provide 2 stops. The group will enjoy the experience of pairing some beers with chocolate. For most of us it will be a new surprising experience! The group will taste 3 different pralines, 3 various fixed chocolates together with 3 different Beers of our Mechelse brewery “Het Anker”. The chocolate is provided by two authentic and hand-made chocolatiers of Mechelen.
Date: March 21, 2019
Start: 19.00 h
End: 20.30 h
Max. participants: 25
Starting point: Grote Markt
Social activity programme 2 | brewery tour & tasting “Het Anker” | March 21, 2019 (FULLY BOOKED)
Het Anker is a family business that started brewing beer in the Great Beguinage in Mechelen five generations ago. Over the years, it has developed into an internationally renowned brewery. To this day, the traditional recipes remain the foundation of the brewing process and a variety of hops and herbs gives the beers their characteristic taste and aroma. Come along and find out how Het Anker - as one of the oldest breweries in Belgium (1471) - has preserved the authenticity of bygone days. A guide will take you through the brewery and the whisky ageing rooms. On the brewery roof, you can enjoy the superb view over the city of Mechelen. The tour ends with a tasting session.
Date: March 21, 2019
Start: 19.00 h
End: 20.30 h
Max. participants: 25
Starting point: the Beguinage gate
Visit to Belgoprocess | March 22, 2019
Belgoprocess is the nuclear operator responsible for treating and storing the historical and current Belgian nuclear waste from numerous producers into a stable end product at its site in Dessel. The company has experience processing almost every type of low-, medium- and high-level radioactive waste at its sites, thereby covering a large segment of the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle. Such processes lead inevitably to the generation of a number of different waste streams. Each of these streams is uniquely defined by its radiological and physicochemical characteristics. In order to select appropriate processing and conditioning techniques and disposal options, it is essential to characterize, sample and measure each of these waste streams in an economical manner while meeting all safety, operational and regulatory requirements.
During the technical tour, participants will visit the following installations:
- CILVA-installation for overall treatment and conditioning of low-level waste, consisting of the modules
- low-level waste incinerator
- supercompactor
- cementation unit
- cutting and repackaging unit (inl. visual inspections, sampling, …)
- AQ²-installation (NDA segmented gammaspectrometry) for characterization of low-level waste (and free release)
This visit is FULLY BOOKED.
Date: March 22, 2019
Departure by bus in Mechelen to Dessel: 8.15 h
Start technical visit Belgoprocess: 10.00 h
End technical visit belgoprocess: 12.45 h
Sandwich lunch @ the SCK•CEN Lakehouse in Mol: 13.00 h
Departure by bus to Brussels South/airport: 14.00 h
Arrival in Brussels: ± 16.00 h
Webinar
This Topical Day will also be broadcasted online via this link. (Works best in Chrome)