Research needs in nuclear decommissioning : an analysis based on stakeholders ’ points of view

Simone Müller1, Muhammad Junaid Ejaz Chaudhry1, Angelika Bohnstedt1, Sascha Gentes1, Christine Georges2, Laura Aldave De Las Heras3, Emilio Garcia Neri4, Anthony Banford5, and Kurt Van Den Dungen6 1Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany 2Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), Marcoule, France 3Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission, Karlsruhe, Germany 4Empresa Nacional de Residuos Radiactivos (ENRESA), Madrid, Spain 5National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), Workington, UK 6Centre d’étude de l’énergie nucléaire (SCK-CEN), Brussels, Belgium


Introduction
Decommissioning of nuclear facilities is a multidiscipline project, including all technical and management actions associated with the terminated operation of a nuclear installation and its subsequent dismantling to remove it from regulatory control while delivering an environmentally friendly end-product. In 2016, the European Commission was convinced that more commitment was needed to develop and to use research and innovation in decommissioning projects and to promote and organise at international level the cofinancing of developments by stakeholders with common objectives. This resulted in the funding of a Coordination and Support Action project called "SHARE" (StakeHolders based Analysis of REsearch for decommissioning), within the framework of the EU-Horizon 2020 nuclear research program. The objective of this project is the development of a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) associated with a roadmap for the next 10-15 years, to increase confidence in the decommissioning process. It also aims to encourage the future coordination of research topics that are recommendable for financing in the next decade. Moreover, it will facilitate access to expertise and technology and maintain competences in decommissioning and environmental remediation for the benefit of member states in Europe and beyond.

The analysis
The SHARE project intends to provide an inclusive roadmap for research in decommissioning, in technical and nontechnical areas, enabling stakeholders to jointly improve safety, reduce costs and minimise environmental impact in the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. It is based on a broad analysis of stakeholder needs including R&D, R&I, education, training, regulations, legislation, project management, costing and standardisation.
A detailed survey divided into different thematic areas of nuclear decommissioning (e.g. safety and radiological protection aspects, decommissioning material and radioactive waste management, cost estimation and benchmarking) was sent to 650 stakeholders throughout the evaluation chain, to obtain their opinions about importance and urgency of their respective research needs. Similarly, an elaborate literature review was carried out, highlighting existing methodologies and techniques as well as international initiatives in these thematic areas. The SHARE project is built on a consultation process including the needs and point of views of different stakeholders. In this respect, two online workshops were organised to receive stakeholders' valuable opinions by firstly investigating with them issues, challenges, and opportunities in research and secondly sharing status and results of ongoing developments (SHARE consortium, 2020a, b).
A gap analysis between needs identified in the survey and at the workshops, and existing solutions or on-going developments drawn from the literature review was carried out.
The first outcome of the investigation was presented at the DigiDecom 2021 conference, where participants gave feedback (SHARE consortium, 2021). The final analysis provided actions that can impact identified needs. The compiled actions will be further analysed and grouped as key research topics, which will be the basis for the SRA and the roadmap. This may also lead to better future harmonisation in research of technological approaches used in decommissioning.

Conclusion
One of the main added values of the SHARE project is to collect the opinion of the global stakeholders decommissioning community, in order to know and understand the issues and challenges they are facing and deficits or opportunities they have in mind. As a result, SHARE will provide a SRA and a roadmap that will support policymakers in their choice of areas, eligibility for financial contribution and for potential future collaborative research projects in R&D, R&I, methodologies, standardisation in technical and non-technical areas.