Origins of Arius

Arius LogoThe concept of shared facilities for radioactive waste management is not new.

Papers on the concept of international repositories have been published by the IAEA and by workers in South Africa, Germany, Switzerland and the USA. Working groups in the European Union have discussed equivalence principles that could allow the exchange of wastes between members. Some smaller programmes have long expressed interest in international solutions for their relatively low volumes of HLW or spent fuel. There has been some limited transfer of wastes for disposal (e.g. between Sweden and Germany). A few countries have expressed an interest in disposing of imported wastes (e.g. China and, more recently, Russia and Kazakhstan). In the USA and in Canada there have been proposals from groupings of indigenous peoples to run commercial storage and perhaps disposal facilities, which could be international. The issue of disposal of excess fissile material from dismantled nuclear weapons also came to the fore recently. Making the world a safer place for everyone is something that would benefit from a multinational approach.

Almost 20 years ago, the Pangea Project raised attention world-wide with its proposals for establishing an international repository in regions with particularly well suited geology – the prime example being Australia. This was focussed on a commercial approach (most recently through the company Pangea Resources International). It emphasised a novel disposal concept based on geological and geographical environments with exceptionally high isolation potential, and looking in particular at regions of Australia. Pangea ceased operations in 2001 when the owners decided that the commercial prospects for an international repository were too far into the future to justify the investment required. Looking forward, the team at Pangea recognised that the success of shared solutions would take time to achieve and would require many organisations to work together on a non-commercial basis to explore feasible options.

Arius was born from this change of emphasis, and the Pangea management team was instrumental in founding the new Association.

Arius was founded on February 22nd in Baden, Switzerland. The following Press Release announced the outcome of the inaugural meeting:

ARIUS: a new Association promoting regional and international storage and disposal of radioactive waste

On 22nd February 2002 a small group of organisations from 5 countries inaugurated a new association to support the concept of sharing facilities for storage and disposal of all types of long-lived radioactive wastes. The new body - called ARIUS (Association for Regional and International Underground Storage) - is an organisation without commercial goals. The mission of the Association is to promote concepts for socially acceptable, international and regional solutions for environmentally safe, secure and economic storage and disposal of long-lived radioactive wastes.

One key objective will be to explore ways of making provision for shared storage and disposal facilities for smaller users, who may not wish to - or may not have the resources to - develop facilities of their own. Some such programmes already have 'dual track' policies of seeking eventual disposal solutions both at home and internationally. Consequently, the initial membership of the ARIUS Association is predominantly from countries with smaller nuclear programmes, although it also includes industrial organisations that are interested in promoting the international disposal concept. The founding members are from Belgium (ONDRAF Waste Agency), Bulgaria (Kozloduy Power Plant), Hungary (PURAM Waste Agency), Japan (Obayashi Corporation) and Switzerland (Colenco Power Engineering, backed by two of the Swiss nuclear power utilities). The Association is open to all organisations sharing its goals; discussions with a range of further potential members are already underway.

The inaugural meeting, which was also attended by an observer from the European Commission, elected the officials of ARIUS and agreed a programme of activities for the first year of operations. The management of the Association will be in the hands of Charles McCombie, as Executive Director, and Neil Chapman as Programme Director. Both of these experienced waste management specialists until recently have worked with the company, Pangea Resources International (PRI). The objectives of PRI, which has now ceased active operations, were initiation and development of commercial opportunities for international repositories.

There is a wide and constantly growing acceptance that international and regional repositories can bring environmental benefits and can help to improve global safety and security. They will not replace national repositories, some of which are now moving ahead towards implementation. Both national and international facilities will be needed. The Association ARIUS will work closely with international bodies, national governments and national waste management programmes with a view to exploring the scientific, legal and societal issues that affect the feasibility of sharing storage and disposal facilities. By approaching its mission in a co-operative and open manner, ARIUS hopes to make a positive contribution to a key global environmental challenge.

22nd February 2002

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