The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Our Radioactive Waste Management Directorate (RWMD) is responsible for implementing geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste in line with the Government's Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) process.

While the UK Government is leading on finding a site based on voluntarism and partnership with local communities that may be willing to host a facility, our scientists and engineers are working on the early stages of planning the development.

In our Geological Disposal: Steps towards implementation report we set out in broad terms how this could be achieved. A large part of our work focuses on gathering scientific and engineering evidence to support the safe and secure geological disposal of higher activity waste.

To demonstrate our thinking at this stage, and to meet our requirements for openness and transparency, our staff produce and publish a range of documents to support our approach and set out where we will need research and development to answer any gaps in our knowledge.

We therefore take this opportunity to provide our list of forthcoming publications so that you are aware of the documents that we intend publishing over the coming months. As many of our documents are subject to a review process, we are unable to give precise dates.

One of the forthcoming suites of documents will focus on our generic disposal systems safety case. While we do not have a site at this stage, our thinking is generic and sets out the major issues for consideration in implementing a safe and secure geological disposal facility as well as the critical infrastructure needed to support it. This suite of documents will set out the methods and types of data that will be used to assess the safety of transport of wastes, the safety of construction and operation, and the environmental safety of a geological disposal facility both before and after it has been closed.

In addition there are a large suite of technical and scientific reports based on our and international research and development covering a wide range of issues on the behaviour of the waste and the facility over long periods of time.

• List of forthcoming publications related to geological disposal of radioactive waste

We are keen to receive feedback on our work from all of our stakeholders and to show how these views influence our work. If you have any comments or feedback please send to rwmdfeedback@nda.gov.uk