Steps Forward For Belgium’s Geological Radwaste Disposal

On November 22, 2022, a Royal Decree concerning radioactive waste management in Belgium was published in the Belgian Official Gazette.

This decree is the first regulatory act allowing the formal elaboration of a national policy for the safe and responsible long-term management of high-level radioactive waste in Belgium.

The act so ratifies the decision in principle for deep storage on Belgian territory, as recommended by the Belgian National Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Material (ONDRAF/NIRAS), and lays the foundations for setting, at a later stage and within a clear framework, the methods of implementation.

Read the ONDRAF/NIRAS Press Release.

The Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC), which has already backed the proposal for the final disposal of high-level and long-lived radioactive waste, welcomed the Royal Decree, considering it an important step that must be followed by a participatory, transparent and step-by-step decision-making process towards the choice of the implementation site(s).