Belgian co-operation with the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia

Since mid nineties, the Belgian Government has granted funding to Belgatom and SCK-CEN to initiate collaborations with four Eastern European countries in the field of nuclear waste disposal safety. The covered matters are essentially the disposal of nuclear waste and the interim storage of spent fuel. This was a good opportunity for Belgatom and SCK-CEN to share their extensive expertise in the fields of geological disposal, site selection, performance assessment and spent fuel interim storage. In the Czech Republic, the mission deals with assistance in the bidding process for an interim dry spent fuel storage facility for fuel originating from the Dukovany site. The matters covered in the Slovak Republic are the interim storage of spent fuel and the disposal of high level waste. In Hungary, the co-operation addresses spent fuel management, low-level and high-level waste management. In Slovenia the co-operation included provision of expertise concerning LILW management and collaboration in the field of geological disposal. The co-operation is since 2001 extended to Russia, focusing on low-level waste management.