Decommissioning, Immobilisation and Storage soluTIons for NuClear wasTe InVEntories (DISTINCTIVE)

英国政府通过其最新的能源白皮书，仍然致力于将核电作为未来30 - 50年甚至更长时间内能源发电能力的重要组成部分。最近发布的《核工业战略》（2013年）明确描述了政府对“新建”电站和在这一时间表内延长现有机组寿命的愿望。公众接受这一新建设计划的一个核心组成部分，仍然是需要证明我们有能力安全管理和处置遗留核操作产生的高、中水平废物。这显然与正在进行的关于公众对核能态度的研究有关，这些研究一再表明，接受这项技术与是否有安全清理和处置任何产生的废物的可行路线直接有关。在“核工业战略”中，提供了与“废物管理和退役”需求相关的明确里程碑，其中大部分依赖于未来10 - 20年的进一步研究和技术发展。事实上，该战略的核心目标是“在政府、工业和学术界之间建立一种联合的核研发方法，使英国经济受益，并确保供应安全”，以及“使英国工业成为废物管理和退役方面的全球领导者……”。因此，很明显，在支持这一战略的广泛的核废料领域有大量的、当前的和实际的需要进行进一步的研究。该联盟涉及核废料和退役的广泛领域，汇集了主要的行业合作伙伴和来自英国11所领先的研究密集型大学的领先学术研究人员。所提出的研究在其范围内是多学科的，涵盖了与这个重要行业相关的基础和应用主题。该联盟包括30个独立的研究项目，分为4个主要主题，即：乏燃料，钚氧化物和燃料残留物，遗留池塘和筒仓废物，以及结构完整性。该联盟的所有成员都是该领域的主要研究人员。他们来自不同的背景和经验，但都在核领域具有创新和解决相关问题的记录。该联盟建立并巩固了EPSRC之前在同一领域资助的项目，即钻石（核废料的退役、固定和管理处理，EP/F055412/1）。重要的是，这项新提议吸引了来自更多大学的研究人员，并增加了该小组的多学科性质。所有参与的研究小组都有通过基础和应用研究以及咨询活动支持核工业的良好记录。与我们之前的联盟一样，这里的一个关键目标是进一步扩展和发展英国与核废料管理行业需求相关的相关学术技能基础。重要的是，我们将通过支持前沿研究来实现这一目标，这些研究有可能为更好地（即更安全、更便宜）管理遗留核废料和未来核废料提供新的创新途径。

The UK Government, through its most recent Energy White Paper, remains committed to Nuclear Power as an important part of the energy generation capacity over the next 30 - 50 years, and possibly beyond. The recently published 'Nuclear Industrial Strategy' (2013) describes clearly the Governments aspirations for both 'New Build' power stations and the life extension of the existing fleet within this timeline. A central component of public acceptance for this new build programme remains the need to demonstrate our ability to safely manage and dispose of high- and intermediate-level wastes from the legacy nuclear operations. This clearly links to on-going studies of public attitudes to nuclear power which repeatedly show that acceptance of this technology is directly linked to having viable routes for the safe clean-up and disposal of any wastes arising.Within the 'Nuclear Industrial Strategy' clear milestones associated with the needs of "waste management & decommissioning" are provided and most of these rely upon further research and technical developments being delivered over the next 10 - 20 years. Indeed, central objectives for the strategy are "To have a joined up approach to nuclear R&D across government, industry and academia which serves to benefit the UK economy and ensures the security of supply" and "To establish the UK industry as a global leader in waste management and decommissioning ...". It is clear, therefore, that there is a substantial, current and real need for further research in the broad area of nuclear wastes supporting this strategy.This consortium addresses the broad area of nuclear waste and decommissioning bringing together key industry partners and leading academic researchers from 11 of the UKs leading research intensive universities. The research proposed is multi-disciplinary in its scope and covers both fundamental and applied topics associated with this important industry. The consortium includes 30 separate research projects clustered into 4 major themes, viz.: Spent Fuels, Plutonium Oxide & fuel residues, Legacy ponds & silo wastes, and Structural Integrity. All members of the consortium are leading researchers in this field. They come from a diverse array of backgrounds and experience, but all with a track-record of innovation and problem solving of relevance in the nuclear field. This consortium builds upon and consolidates the work of a previous EPSRC funded programme in the same field, known as Diamond (Decommissioning, immobilisation and management of nuclear wastes for disposal, EP/F055412/1). Importantly, this new proposal draws in researchers from a larger group of universities and increases the multi-disciplinary nature of the group. All participating research groups have a strong track-record of supporting the nuclear industry through basic and applied research as well as consultancy activities. As with our earlier consortium, a key aim here is to further extend and develop a relevant academic skill base in the UK associated with the needs of the nuclear waste management industry. importantly, we will do this by supporting cutting-edge research that has the potential to provide new and innovative pathways to better (that is safer and cheaper) management of both legacy and future nuclear wastes.