The proposed mobility action involved attending the 17th Natural Analogues Working Group workshop, which included 2.5 days of formal (oral and poster presentations) and informal discussions on recent developments in the use of natural analogues in supporting safety cases for the disposal of radioactive waste, and reducing uncertainties. The main objective of this mobility action was to explore the usefulness of natural analogues in EURAD work packages, e.g. the UMAN task on uncertainty management. In addition, a presentation on the use of Natural Analogues for long-term climato-tectonic evolution was given by the applicant.
There was a very good introductory session with several keynotes in which, e.g., the updated NA catalogue in support of the British programme of geological disposal (NWS) was presented. In addition, many archaeological analogues were presented in the EBS-canisters session (mainly on corrosion processes (of iron, steel and copper)). A very interesting analogue is the one from Cigar Lake in Canada, where a uranium ore is found encapsulated by sedimentary clay, presented in the EBS-bentonite session (but also relevant for clay host rocks).
We had long and productive discussions with Stéphane Brassines, who is following the Natural Analogues community for NIRAS-ONDRAF. At the moment Natural Analogues are not a priority for NIRAS, but it will have to be incorporated in the programme at some point.
