Lunch & Learn | Discovering the activities of the External Advisory Board members (session 1)

Simon Morgan will explain the work of a nuclear safety regulator based on his time working in the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) in the UK. He will also describe the role of the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association (WENRA) and in particular its Working Group on Waste & Decommissioning (WGWD) which he has chaired for several years. WGWD develops and maintains Safety Reference Levels which the 19 members of WENRA have committed to implement and track in their regulatory frameworks. SRLs are the basis for regulatory harmonisation across WENRA members, and reflect exemplary levels of safety in all aspects of the design, commissioning, operation and decommissioning of operating nuclear power plants, waste facilities and research reactors.

This presentation will provide an overview of Ali’s early-career experience in the chemical treatment of non-conforming nuclear waste, focusing on laboratory-scale process development and optimization for waste streams that do not meet the acceptance criteria of existing treatment or disposal routes. I will describe the methodology used to characterize these complex matrices, identify feasible chemical treatment pathways, design and conduct experimental programs in controlled areas, and monitor key physico-chemical parameters to assess treatment efficiency.