Dr Wolsey Barnard

CEO

Nuclear Waste Storage Development in

South Africa

Nuclear Africa 2017 Conference

National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute

Date: 30 March 2017

PRESENTATION OBJECTIVES

background to National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute (NRWDI);

to provide information on the status of operationalisation of the NRWDI;

overview of Radioactive Waste in South Africa; and

NRWDI’s key priorities going forward.

The objectives of this presentation are:-

NATIONAL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL INSTITUTE (NRWDI)

▪ Cabinet approved and published the radioactive

waste management policy and strategy in Nov 2005;

▪ The National Radioactive Waste Disposal Institute

Act (NRWDIA) (Act no. 53 of 2008) became effective

on the 1st December 2009;

▪ NRWDI is responsible for discharging an institutional

obligation as defined in Section 1 of the Nuclear

Energy Act, which relates to the disposal and related

waste management of radioactive waste on a

national basis;

▪ NRWDI a Schedule 3A public entity;

FUNCTIONAL MANDATE OF NRWDI

▪ Manage radioactive waste disposal on a national basis;

▪ Operation of the Vaalputs repository;

▪ Develop criteria for accepting and disposing radioactive waste;

▪ Manage, operate and monitor operational radioactive waste disposal facilities

▪ Site, design and construct new disposal and related facilities as required;

▪ Define and conduct research and development aimed at finding solutions for long-term radioactive waste management;

▪ Maintain a national radioactive waste database;

▪ Manage ownerless radioactive waste on behalf of the Government; and

▪ Implement any assignments or directives from the Minister regarding radioactive waste management.

OPERATIONALISATION OF NRWDI

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STRICT REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS

▪ The Nuclear Act, Section 20 (1) of the Act states that “No person may site, construct,

operate, decontaminate or decommission a nuclear installation, except under theauthority of a nuclear installation licence” to be issued by the National NuclearRegulator (NNR).

▪ The NNR will ONLY authorise an activity if the safety case provided to the NNR meets therequirements of the NNR Regulation 388: REGULATIONS ON SAFETY STANDARDSAND REGULATORY PRACTICES

KEY OPERATIONALISATION HIGHLIGHTS

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• NRWDI as an entity was established with the appointment of the 1st Board in January 2014,

but became operationalised from the end of 2016 with the appointment of staff to the

Institute.

• With the appointment of the CEO on 01st October 2016, the day-to day operations of the

Institute were handed over to the NRWDI management team.

• The 2nd Board was appointed beginning of February 2017.

• The Institute received for the first time a baseline budget from NT for the MTEF period.

• Institute has implemented actions to ensure that the Institute is compliant with respect to

internal and external processes.

• The Institute’s functional structure was revised and aligned to the strategic plan and annual

performance plan outcomes.

FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURE

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RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

OVERVIEW OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE IN

SOUTH AFRICA

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COMMISSIONING OF VAALPUTS

▪ Site selection completed in 1985

▪ Vaalputs Waste Disposal Property - 100 km2

▪ Site operating license granted in 1986

▪ First waste shipment arrived in November 1986

▪ Only solidified or solid low level waste are disposed off.

Current disposal area is 1 km2 of which12% has been used over past 30 years

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VAALPUTS NATIONAL WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITY

KEY FOCUS OF NRWDI

Core business:

Disposal of radioactive waste on a national basis

Core asset:

National Radioactive Waste Disposal Site (Vaalputs)

Current:

▪ Disposal site must be managed to ensure uninterrupted waste disposal services for LLW.

▪ National Radioactive Waste Inventory Database

▪ Functional shift of Vaalputs from Necsa to NRWDI.

▪ Improve financial sustainability of Institute

Future:

Disposal facilities must be expanded to include all classes of radioactive waste

(CISF, ILW, HLW, etc)

FUNDING MODEL

In order for the Institute to optimise it revenue generation, it has commenced withinitiatives to address the following critical aspects:-

Functional shift of Vaalputs, which includes the obtaining of Nuclear InstallationLicence for Vaalputs operations.

Renegotiation of the waste disposal contracts with NECSA and Eskom.

Exploring alternative sources of revenue.

Development of a cost recovery model for the operations of the Institute to ensureoptimal cost recovery.

Collation of information required to determine the base rate for the proposed taxlevy in the Radioactive Waste Management Fund Bill.

REVENUE GENERATION OPTIMISATION

CONCLUSION

NRWDI is operational and the Management team has from October 2016 operationalisedvarious key governance/compliance elements to ensure that all mandatory aspects areimplemented or in the process of being executed;

NRWDI will deliver its mandate irrespective of a new build programme or not, since thecountry has for the last 50 years been involved in the nuclear industry and nuclear research /operations, and the radioactive waste will have to be disposed in a safe, technically sound,environmentally responsible, economically feasible and societally acceptable manner.

This will be delivered in an integrated and accountable approach to ensure that no undueburden is placed on future generations due to past, present and future involvement innuclear programs.

Resource constrains is a serious challenge to the Institute in order to deliver its coremandatory function.

THANK YOU