• Date: 20 - 21 Feb 2023
• Venue: Online
• Tutors: Jonathan Turner, Chief Geologist, Radioactive Waste Management, and Brian Matthews, Independent Consultant, Founder and Managing Director of TerraUrsa

This course covers aspects of nuclear technology, power production and deep geological disposal of nuclear waste and how nuclear power can help achieve net zero.

You will learn to:

1. Understand the scientific and technological background of nuclear power.
2. Describe how a nuclear power plant/power station works.
3. Characterise the effects and risk of radiation.
4. Evaluate how the history of the nuclear industry has shaped policy and public engagement today.
5. Interpret a typical nuclear fuel cycle (mining to disposal).
6. Develop an understanding of the economics and policy surrounding nuclear power and its growth internationally.
7. Assess the social impact of nuclear power and its benefits to climate change and achieving Net Zero.
8. Understand the future options for nuclear technologies and how they can work alongside other technologies.
9. Appreciate the history of the global nuclear waste siting process.
10. Describe a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF).
11. Characterise the multi-barrier system.
12. Appreciate how site characterisation is undertaken and the central role of site descriptive models.
13. Evaluate major programme management for waste disposal, including planning and permitting process (Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects).
14. Appreciate the regulatory environment and safety cases around waste disposal, particularly the post-closure safety case.

Course Content

This course will give participants a basic understanding of the context of the UK nuclear industry and deep geological disposal programme, and the central role of geoscience and geoscientists in it. Participants will come away with a broad appreciation of nuclear technology, the history and must-know events, the important engineering and scientific elements, what international nuclear policy looks like now and how it could develop in the future, and how nuclear power can work alongside other technologies to help decarbonise the energy sector.

Key session headings:

• Understanding nuclear power
• The effects of radiation
• Mining to disposal – the nuclear fuel cycle
• The history of nuclear events
• Nuclear technologies now and what’s next
• The internationally benchmarked safety culture principles of nuclear power
• The economics and international policy of nuclear power
• The unclear nuclear future, including how nuclear power can help achieve Net Zero
• What is a GDF and the multi-barrier system
• History of the global nuclear waste siting process
• Site characterisation and selection
• Managing major infrastructure programmes
• Safety cases and regulation

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: GeoLogica