Our Vision With the European Joint Programme on Radioactive Waste Management EURAD(-1) a step change in European collaboration was envisaged towards safe radioactive waste management (RWM), covering all phases including predisposal and disposal, through the development of a robust and sustained science, technology and knowledge management programme that supports timely implementation of RWM activities and serves to foster mutual understanding and trust between Joint Programme participants. EURAD-2 builds upon EURAD-1 and PREDIS to further implement a joint strategic programme of research, development and knowledge management activities at the European level, bringing together and complementing EU Member States programmes in order to ensure cutting edge knowledge creation and preservation in view of delivering safe, responsible and publicly acceptable solutions for the management of radioactive waste throughout all programme phases (from “cradle to grave”) across Europe now and in the future. EURAD-2 will support the implementation of the Waste Directive in EU Member States, taking into account the various stages of advancement of national programmes, the differences in capabilities and inventories. The main goals are to: - Support Member States in developing and implementing their national RD&D programmes for the safe long‐term management of their full range of different types of radioactive waste through participation in the RWM Joint Programme; - Develop and consolidate existing knowledge for the safe start of operation of the first geological disposal facilities for spent fuel, high‐level waste, and other long‐lived radioactive waste, and supporting optimization linked with the stepwise implementation of geological disposal facilities; - Building on the achievements of EURAD-1 and PREDIS, maintain a knowledge management system that enhances transfer of knowledge between organisations, Member States and generations.

The Modern2020 project aims at providing the means for developing and implementing an effective and efficient repository operational monitoring programme, taking into account the requirements of specific national programmes. The work allows advanced national radioactive waste disposal programmes to design monitoring systems suitable for deployment when repositories start operating in the next decade and supports less developed programmes and other stakeholders by illustrating how the national context can be taken into account in designing dedicated monitoring programmes tailored to their national needs. The work is established to understand what should be monitored within the frame of the wider safety cases and to provide methodology on how monitoring information can be used to support decision making and to plan for responding to monitoring results. Research and development work aims to improve and develop innovative repository monitoring techniques (wireless data transmission, alternative power supply sources, new sensors, geophysical methods) from the proof of feasibility stage to the technology development and demonstration phase. Innovative technical solutions facilitate the integration and flexibility of required monitoring components to ease the final implementation and adaptation of the monitoring system. Full-scale in-situ demonstrations of innovative monitoring techniques will further enhance the knowledge on the operational implementation of specific disposal monitoring and will demonstrate the performance of the state-of-the-art, the innovative techniques and their comparison with conventional ones. Finally, Modern2020 has the ambition to effectively engage local citizen stakeholders in the R&D monitoring activity by involving them at an early stage in a repository development programme in order to integrate their concerns and expectations into monitoring programmes.

The overall objective of the project is to develop and test the tools necessary for the assessment of the hydro-mechanical evolution of an installed bentonite barrier and its resulting performance. This will be achieved by cooperation between design and engineering, science and performance assessment. The evolution from an installed engineered system to a fully functioning barrier will be assessed. One of the challenges is to take into account initial heterogeneities introduced in the system by conception with a combination of block and pellets or due to the size of the bentonite component (several 100 m3). It will require a more detailed understanding of material properties, of the fundamental processes that lead to homogenisation, of the role of scale effects and improved capabilities for numerical modelling. The goal is to verify the performance of current designs for buffers, backfills, seals and plugs. The overall driver for the project is the assessment cases that will be defined at the onset of the project (WP1). The quantitative models currently available are not fully able to represent all the complexities of the evolution of an installed bentonite. A substantial effort is needed to improve both the conceptual approaches and the numerical solutions in the current models (WP3). The updated/newly developed models need to be tested and verified using available data (WP5). There are some areas where fundamental data and the understanding of materials are incomplete. An efficient experimental programme will support model development and testing (WP4). There is already a large database from experiments performed within EC projects and national programmes, both laboratory and Underground Research Laboratory (URL) experiments. Many of the tests have been performed with other purposes in mind, but the results can be used in the Beacon project. The objective of WP2 is to collect the relevant information and process it to a level where it can be used in this project