JOPRAD Partners

Andra is the French radioactive waste management organisation. Overall responsibilities include research on the national programme on a geological repository for high level and long lived, intermediate level radioactive wastes. It has also an industrial responsibility of operating the disposal facilities for short lived, low and intermediate level radioactive waste. After national and international review of the feasibility study on geological disposal presented in the “Dossier 2005”, Andra is tasked by the law (June 28, 2006) to pursue relevant studies to present a License Application for geological repository, to be evaluated by the authorities in 2015.
Website: www.andra.fr

Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM) is wholly-owned subsidiary of the NDA today. It joins the existing subsidiary companies Direct Rail Services and International Nuclear Services. It is a separate legal entity with a Board of Directors. The organisation is based at Harwell in Oxfordshire where its staff of around 100 nuclear scientists, geologists, engineers and other professionals are responsible for delivering Government policy for geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste and for developing waste management solutions.
Website: www.nda.gov.uk/rwm

The Radioactive Waste Repository Authority (SURAO) was established by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on 1 June 1997 according to the Atomic Act. The principal obligations of SURAO consist of the efficient management of repositories for the disposal of low-level and intermediate level radioactive waste and the development of a deep geological repository. Since 2000, it has operated 3 near surface repositories for disposing low and intermediate level waste: the Richard repository near Litoměřice which is used for the disposal of institutional waste, the Dukovany repository for waste generated by Czech nuclear power plants and the Bratrství repository for the disposal of waste containing only naturally occurring radionuclides. One of the main tasks of SÚRAO is to prepare a deep geological repository for disposing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, which is scheduled to be put into operation by 2065. SURAO is also responsible for coordination of research and development activities in the field of radioactive waste management.
Website: www.surao.cz/eng

Bel V is a technical subsidiary of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (Belgian Safety Authority) which according to the Law of 15 April 1994 initiates and coordinates research and development work. By virtue of its activities and its relations to the FANC, Bel V is the Belgian Technical Support Organisation, in accordance with the definition of ETSON (the European TSO Network). The FANC relies on the technical expertise of Bel V for carrying out inspections in nuclear installations in Belgium. Bel V acts as well as expert for the safety assessments of nuclear projects and participates actively in working groups that are organized in the framework of international organizations. Its financial resources are allocated in part to research and development activities.
Website: www.belv.be

The Research Centre Rez (CVREZ) is a Czech research organization founded in 2002 as a daughter company of ÚJV Řež, a. s. (former Nuclear Research Institute, NRI), the oldest nuclear research organization in the Czech Republic established in 1950’s. The main aim of the CVREZ is research, development and innovations in the field of power generation, especially nuclear. The CVREZ owns unique research infrastructure such as experimental research reactors and technological experimental circuits. Further to other activities it focuses on the development of advanced technologies and technological procedures for RW management and minimization of its generation, research and development of new materials and principles for more effective and safe disposal of RAO and also on the building a scientific-technology platform to support the development of a deep geological repository in the Czech Republic. Focusing on main areas of peaceful uses of radioactive materials it has also provided technical support to the national regulatory authority, the State Office for Nuclear Safety (SUJB) in those areas. CVREZ is a member of ETSON (the European TSO Network) and other platforms, such as SNEP, TPUE etc. and activities, e.g. EERA, and cooperates with research organizations at international level. The mission of the Nuclear Regulator Support Section (TSO) is to provide state regulatory authorities with technical and professional support which is independent from operators of nuclear facilities, particularly in the field of nuclear safety and nuclear power and also radioactive waste management issue. This support has been preferably implemented by expert review of safety analysis reports presented to SUJB by operators of nuclear facilities.
Website: http://cvrez.cz/

The IRSN is a French public establishment of an industrial and commercial nature placed under the joint authority of the Ministries of the Environment, Health, Industry, Research and Defence. The IRSN’s field of expertise covers all of the risks related to ionising rays used within industry or medicine, or even natural radiation rays. More precisely, the IRSN carries out missions relating to analysis and research in the following fields: the safety of nuclear installations, including those relating to defence; the safety of the transport of radioactive and fissile materials; the protection of man and the environment against ionising rays; the protection and control of nuclear materials and products likely to be used in the manufacture of weapons and the protection of installations and transport against acts of malevolence (theft or misappropriation of nuclear materials, or even sabotage). The research activities, most often carried out within the framework of international programmes, allows IRSN to maintain and develop its expertise. IRSN was involved in or coordinated several EC FP projects on waste safety (EVEREST, SPA, NFPRO, BENIPA, PAMINA, MICADO, FORGE, and SITEX). IRSN chairs the ETSON association on nuclear reactors and radioactive waste safety as well as the Melodi association on radioprotection.
Website: www.irsn.fr

CNRS is a government-funded research organization, under the administrative authority of France's Ministry of Research. As one of the largest fundamental research organization in Europe with an annual budget representing a quarter of French public spending on civil research, CNRS carries out research in all fields of knowledge and, in particular, in sciences related to waste management. Many institutes are involved in this field, 6 of the major institutes being: IN2P3 (National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics), INC (Institute of Chemistry), INSU (National Institute of Earth Sciences and Astronomy), INSIS (Institute for Engineering and Systems Sciences), INSMI (National Institute for Mathematical Sciences) and InSHS (Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences).
In the field of nuclear energy, IN2P3 coordinates an interdisciplinary program, NEEDS (Nuclear, Energy, Environment, Waste and Society) on behalf of CNRS and universities, in partnership with CEA, AREVA, EDF, IRSN and ANDRA. The scientific CNRS person participating in JOPRAD is the director of this program.
Website: http://www.cnrs.fr/

Mutadis is a research group specialising in the area of the governance of activities entailing risks for people or the environment and of sustainable development. It operates for public and private organisations. Mutadis has a long standing experience both in the fields of research, methodological expertise and facilitation of deliberative processes in the French, European and international context since 1991. In most of these projects, Mutadis had a role of methodological expert and facilitator. Mutadis has also developed several projects and research regarding the adaptation and transformation of legal and institutional frameworks, in order to create the conditions for a permanent and influential participation of Civil Society Organisations and local communities in the governance of activities associated with risks and impacts on health and environment. In France, Mutadis has been cooperating with IRSN and other technical support organisations active in the field of health, food, environment and work hazards, in order to propose a vision and tools for the governance of these organisations (in the form of a Memorandum of Agreement), and their approaches to stakeholder's involvement.
Website: http://www.mutadis.fr/

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is a Directorate General of the European Commission. It includes various specialized laboratories and offers unique facilities to complement the European national research laboratories, authorities and industries. In the case of the Institute for Transuranium Elements (JRC-ITU) in Karlsruhe, Germany, which is sited within the premises of the German Karlsruhe Institut für Technologie (KIT Campus Nord), it is the centre-point within the JRC for work with highly radioactive material. The activities carried out at JRC cover different aspects related to the nuclear fuel cycle, from fuel safety studies to post-irradiation examination in hot cell to storage and disposal studies, nuclear safeguards, security and forensics. The JRC-ITU with about 300 staff located in Karlsruhe, has more than 50 years of experience in the nuclear field. To foster the transfer of knowledge, the Institute encourages outside scientists to join its work through secondment and grants.
Website: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/itu

MCM International formed in 2006 and brings together a team of consultants with unique international strategic scientific and technical experience in radioactive waste management. The MCM partners Charles McCombie, Neil Chapman and Ian McKinley have decades of experience in all areas of radioactive waste management, including strategic programme planning and implementation at both national and regional levels. The partners are supported by experienced senior staff and an internationally recognised team of associates. For the last 35 years, the MCM Partners have all been directly involved in almost all major national and international radioactive waste management programmes.
Website: http://mcmenvironmental.co.uk/