In Belgium, the daily management of radioactive waste is completely under control. After processing and conditioning the packages of conditioned radioactive waste are temporarily stored in buildings specially designed for this purpose on the site of Belgoprocess in Dessel, until such time a solution is found for their long-term management. The safety of the short-term and medium-term management of all types of radioactive waste is therefore now assured.

The Belgoprocess storage buildings are designed to protect people and the environment from the potential harmful effects of radioactive waste: the higher the activity of the waste, the thicker the walls are. The buildings are also equipped with an appropriate degree of shielding, as well as remote control systems where necessary.

Although storage is a safe short-term and medium-term solution for all types of conditioned radioactive waste, it remains, nevertheless, a temporary solution. This is why ONDRAF/NIRAS is carrying out extensive research to determine what solutions are possible for the long-term management of radioactive waste.

	low-level waste
	medium-level waste
	high-level waste
	Other storage buildings
	Inspection programme for the drums stored at Belgoprocess

Conditioned low-level radioactive waste is stored in two buildings with reinforced concrete walls 25 cm thick.

Building 150 (*) was commissioned in 1986 after Belgium joined the international moratorium on sea disposal of conditioned low-level waste. With a capacity of 1.929 m³, it has been almost completely full since the end of the 80's (1.913 m³ of conditioned waste stored - 3.316 packages).

Building 150

Building 151, commissioned in 1988, is a modular building. It initially had two storage halls. Two more halls were built in 1993, increasing the total capacity from 6.300 m³ to 14.300 m³. The drums are stored using a remotely controlled roller bridge. At the end of 2006, building 151 housed 11.415,2 m³ of conditioned waste (28.782 packages). According to current predictions, its total capacity should be enough to accommodate Belgium's conditioned low-level waste until around 2010.

Building 151 (built in two phases as the picture shows)	The roller bridge in building 151

Medium-level waste

Conditioned medium-level radioactive waste is stored in a building with reinforced concrete walls 80 cm thick. Building 127 was commissioned in 1978. It has undergone two phases of extension and adaptation, the last of which was in 1988. Since then its capacity has been 4.650 m³, split between 4 bunkers of the same size. The 3.976,1 m³ of conditioned waste (16.153 packages) that it housed at 31 December 2006 were stored, from a shielded control room, using a remotely controlled system.

Building 127	One of the four bunkers in building 127

High-level waste

Conditioned high-level radioactive waste is stored in two buildings with reinforced concrete walls between 1,2 and 2 metres thick. These buildings are designed to withstand extreme external conditions, such as earthquakes, explosions or the crashing of military aircraft. The containers, which are handled remotely from a shielded control room, are placed in vertical steel shafts equipped with a constant ventilation system designed to release the heat produced. The waste will be stored there for at least 50 years. The amount of heat initially released by this waste is such that it has to be left to cool down sufficiently before deep final disposal can take place, to prevent the risk of altering the properties of the surrounding geological environment.

Building 129, which was commissioned in 1985, has a capacity of 250 m³, split between two shielded bunkers. It contains the 195 m³ conditioned high-level waste from the vitrification in the Pamela facility of liquid waste coming from the reprocessing of spent fuel in Eurochemic. Since 1995 it has also housed medium-level and high-level cemented waste from SCK·CEN's BR2 and BR3 reactors and from the operating and partial dismantling of Pamela. Since then, building 129 has been home to 215,16 m³ of conditioned waste (2.335 packages).

	The vitrified waste is stored in shafts under the red concrete covers
Building 129

The construction of building 136 began in 1990. Five years later, the building was given its operating licence. It is designed for the storage of medium-level and high-level waste resulting from the reprocessing, by the French company COGEMA, of spent fuel from Belgian nuclear power plants. Building 136 is able to accommodate 600 containers of high-level vitrified waste and 1.000 m³ of medium-level and high-level cemented or bituminised waste (additional modules may, if necessary, increase its capacity). At 31 December 2006, 336 containers of vitrified waste repatriated from France were stored in this building (50,4 m³ of conditioned waste). Over the next few years the building should receive the remainder of the vitrified reprocessing waste to be stored in accordance with the contracts agreed by Synatom with COGEMA.

		The vitrified waste is stored in shafts under the concrete covers, which here are yellow
Building 136

Other storage buildings
have been built more recently on the Belgoprocess site:

Built in 2001, building 156 was specially designed to house the spent nuclear fuel from SCK·CEN's BR3 reactor. The transporting of the fuel assemblies (around 2 tons of fissile materials) from reactor BR3 to building 156 took place at the end of 2002; they will continue to be stored there for a period of around 50 years, until they are processed, or conditioned as they are, with regard to their final disposal. (To find out more see ACTUA No40, in French or in Dutch)

Building 156

Commissioned in 2005, building 155 is a storage facility specially designed to store, after processing/conditioning, low-level radium and plutonium-bearing waste. It consists of two separate storage rooms each measuring 2000 m³; one will house radium-bearing waste and the other plutonium-bearing waste. Although it would be possible to extend the storage rooms, building 155's capacity should be adequate for all the drums of radium and plutonium-bearing waste currently in existence and for those whose production is forecast. At the end of 2006, building 155 housed 259,2 m³ of conditioned waste (648 packages). (To find out more see ACTUA No41, in French or in Dutch)

Building 155