BREAKING NEWS

The 11th NAWG Workshop will take place in conjunction with the ICEM’09 conference in Liverpool, UK, in the week of 12-15th October. The format will be slightly different to that in previous years with more formal presentations taking place within an ICEM special session dedicated to natural analogues. Session 63 (natural analogues in radwaste disposal – answering the hard questions) will take place on the morning of Thursday, 15th October and will cover 8 papers with an additional 3 posters being presented elsewhere in the conference – the full programme can be downloaded at http://www.icemconf.com/Portals/3/ICEM09_Advance_Program.pdf . Following this, a more informal, open meeting will be held in the afternoon for anyone interested in the application of natural analogues in waste disposal – full details to follow or contact the NAWG chairman, Russell Alexander on russell@bedrock-geosciences.com.

NEWS

Argentina: work is ongoing on long-term cement degradation in the Argentinian programme (see http://nace.confex.com/nace/2009/webprogram/Paper5386.html ).

Cyprus: The NDA (UK), Posiva (Finland) and SKB (Sweden) are currently working in close collaboration with the Geological Survey Department of Cyprus (see http://www.cyprus.gov.cy/moa/Agriculture.nsf/All/A5270DB2D6FA3B21C225701400312A2C?OpenDocument) and other partners (Bedrock Geosciences), examining bentonite reaction in groundwaters directly analogous to the leachates from low-alkali cements currently under consideration for use in deep geological repositories. For details, please see 14-ICC-paper-Cyprus.pdf. This project is running in parallel to that in the Philippines (see below)

EU: Although the NAnet project is now complete, the findings (summarized at ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp6-euratom/docs/euradwaste04pro_posb-miller_en.pdf) remain of interest to the natural analogue community. A full explanation of the project is available on http://www.enviros.com/zztop/nanet/nanetmain.htm and the report may be downloaded at ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp5-euratom/docs/fp5-euratom_nanet_projrep_en.pdf.

Germany: Recent information on the use of natural analogues in the German national radwaste programme can be obtained at http://www.grs.de/en/kompetenzfelder/natural_analogue.html?pe_id=193

India: work is ongoing on the role of the geosphere in the retardation of radionuclides released from a deep geological repository (see http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/mar252005/986.pdf for details).

Oman: Although previously the site of a natural analogue study on hyperalkaline systems (LINK: to NAs of the world), little has been done in Oman in the last 20 years in this field. Recently, however, a team from the University of Hokkaido has begun studying the hyperalkaline springs again, focusing on clay alteration in the natural groundwaters (see http://www.14icc.org/download/PROGRAM/schema%20program%20HE8.pdf for details). This study is similar to those ongoing in both Cyprus and the Philippines and the Hokkaido team is currently collaborating with the team in Manila.

Philippines: As the Philippines considers opening it’s mothballed nuclear reactor at Bataan, work on the first major natural analogue study in the country continues apace. The University of the Philippines (http://www.science.upd.edu.ph/nigs/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1), in collaboration with RWMC (Japan) and other partners (see http://www.bedrock-geosciences.com/articles/Sci_Basis_Nucl_Waste_Manag_2007_Philippines.pdf for details), is studying bentonite reaction in hyperalkaline groundwaters in a project very similar to those ongoing in Cyprus and Oman (see above). Some of the work was reported at the recent EAFORM conference and more is to be reported at the upcoming 14th International Clay Conference (http://www.14icc.org/download/PROGRAM/schema%20program%20HE8.pdf).

USA: Although not discussing natural analogues directly, a recent report (http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/reports/list.html) from the US programme helps identify
areas where natural analogue studies could help with adding confidence to site selection and performance assessment work. In addition, although not so recent, the 2004 Natural Analogue Synthesis Report (http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/documents/amr/37809/index.htm) contains an extensive description of the use of natural analogues for a wide range of purposes for issues related to high level waste disposal.

CO2 disposal: NASCENT, (natural analogues for the storage of CO2 in the geological environment) is a project studying natural accumulations of carbon dioxide, in order to assess processes associated with the geological storage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. It is co-funded by the European Commission Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme and more details can be found at http://www.bgs.ac.uk/nascent/home.html . For further reading on the role of natural analogues in CO2 storage, see http://www.springerlink.com/content/g002434501133336/.