I’m currently working in Buenos Aires where we’re running a workshop on the topic of Safety case development at the beginning stage of a Geological Disposal Programme. The event has been arranged by the IAEA on behalf of the Argentine National Commission for Atomic Energy (Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica) otherwise known as CNEA. Lectures are being given by two experts, myself and Johan Andersson from Sweden and our technical lead from IAEA, David Bennett.

Argentina has three nuclear power plants and CNEA has recently established a project to develop geological disposal for the higher-activity wastes and Spent Fuel/HLW. The purpose of the workshop is to support CNEA’s technical specialists giving them access to international expertise on geological disposal safety assessment and safety case development. Throughout the week we’ll be discussing IAEA Safety Standards and Requirements, discussing safety case development in practice with experience from UK and Sweden, and by the end of the week hope to help CNEA develop a high level plan towards production of generic safety cases for the kinds of host rock likely to be available in Argentina.