Enresa’s commitment to R&D has enabled the improvement and optimisation of every one of their processes, driven technological progress and positioned Spain as an international benchmark in radioactive waste management.
Enresa focuses its efforts on R&D in areas where industrial solutions are not fully implemented and where there is potential for improvement and optimisation.
Enresa's 8th Research and Development Plan(8th R&D Plan), 2019 – 2023, aims to:
- Provide the knowledge and the tools that enable progress in the development of management strategies implemented in Spain, with the objective that they are safe, appropriate, acceptable and viable for all types of radioactive waste.
- Develop and validate the technologies that enable the development of these management strategies.
- Improve and optimise the management mechanisms already in place, in an ongoing and systematic manner.
- Foster the social, scientific and political acceptance of the management mechanisms in use by means of clear, fluid and open communication, conveying confidence and transparency.
- Ensure that the advances made through R&D are applied to the management of radioactive waste, improving safety and cost efficiency.
R&D Plan structure: Areas & Lines
Following the structure of former R&D Plans, Enresa has established four technical areas of work in the 8th R&D Plan (2019-2023),and a fifth one on cross-cutting activities:
Area 1
Waste Technology and know-how
This includes activities related to the understanding of the physical and chemical properties of the components of radioactive waste, as well as their evolution over time and the impact of their irradiation history.
Research and development in this area focuses on the following lines:
- High level waste and spent nuclear fuel.
- Low and intermediate level waste and very low-level waste.
- Basic properties of radionuclides.
Area 2
Technology for Treatment, Conditioning and Dismantling Processes
This area of the Plan includes all actions that may be carried out on radioactive waste for the purposes of conditioning prior to emplacement, reducing volume and radiotoxicity, and other actions applicable to the dismantling of nuclear facilities and radioactive facilities.
R&D Lines in this area are:
- Treatment of radioactive waste.
- Decontamination (optimization).
- Dismantling.
- Immobilisation.
- Other technologies: separation and transmutation.
Area 3
Confinement Materials and Systems
This area aims to acquire and expand know-how and technology relating to the materials used as barriers in storage and disposal facilities, such as cement, clay and metals, taking into account both their individual and their combined usage.
R&D Lines in this area are:
- Characterisation and behaviour of barrier materials.
- Behaviour of confinement systems.
- Storage and disposal systems and technologies.
- Monitoring of materials and confining systems.
Area 4
Safety Assessment, performance assessment, radiological protection and associated modelling.
The object of the works included in this area is related to radiological protection and safety studies. The Area 4 aims to improve the numerical models used in evaluations of the security of storage facilities over the short, medium and long term. Various scales are taken into consideration, from micron to regional scales.
R&D Lines in this area will are:
- Assessment methods and models.
- Modelling of systems and processes.
- Environmental restoration.
- Radiological protection.
- Climate and soils in waste management.
5th Area: Cross-cutting activities
Knowledge Management and Coordination
This R&D Area deals with the coordination, integration and management of all research and development activities. This is intended to ensure coordination of the projects and to integrate and deliver their results to Enresa’s radioactive management activities.
Also included in this area is the technological and scientific dissemination activities, whose purpose is to provide internal support in the effective implementation of R&D.
Projects Developed in Partnership with Other Entities
Enresa regularly cooperates with the Centre for Energy-related, Environmental and Technological Research (Ciemat), Spanish universities and companies, and other foreign Radioactive Waste Management Agencies and Research Centres.
Projects undertaken in partnership with other entities can be grouped as follows:
- Projects developed with foreign organisations.
- Projects developed with Spanish entities.
- Projects developed within the Framework Programmes of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).
- Participation in R&D technology platforms.
- Participation in fora related to radioactive waste management.