Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment Conducts Technical Exchange at Beishan Underground Laboratory

To align with the key engineering tasks of the “15th Five-Year Plan” for Building a Beautiful China, the responsible officials of the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (hereinafter referred to as the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center) recently led a team to the Beishan Underground Laboratory for technical exchange.

The “15th Five-Year Plan” for Building a Beautiful China explicitly proposes the construction of a safety assessment and verification platform for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. During the exchange, personnel from the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center went deep into the Beishan Underground Laboratory site, conducting on-site inspections of underground tunnels, disposal holes, surrounding rock excavation interfaces, etc., and carried out in-depth technical exchanges with personnel from the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology. The two sides held full discussions on topics such as the layout of special tests for safety review, software development and testing, and conceptual design review.

Both sides agreed that the research and development cycle for high-level radioactive waste geological disposal engineering is long, with high safety requirements and strong systematicness. Early intervention in safety review is a necessary measure to ensure the long-term safety of the project and is also an international good practice. Both sides agreed to promote the formation of a regular working communication mechanism and strengthen coordination, linkage, and information exchange between regulators and the industry. Subsequently, both sides will comprehensively review existing research and development achievements, base themselves on safety review needs, identify key issues that urgently need to be resolved, and on this basis, refine research projects and test plans. At the same time, relying on the Beishan Underground Laboratory and the Radioactive Pollution Prevention and Control Engineering Technology Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, etc., they will solidly advance the construction of the safety assessment and verification platform for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, helping to implement the key tasks of the “15th Five-Year Plan” for Building a Beautiful China.