Feb 12 Grant for waste characterization

On January 24, 2013, the Finance Committee approved parliamentary document no. 57, in which the Ministry of Health requested DKK 3 million from unspent funds under Section 19.51.03 for Danish Decommissioning to finance expenses related to the characterization and conditioning of radioactive waste.

TIn other words, this approval means that Danish Decommissioning is authorized to use DKK 3 million of the allocated funds for the characterization and conditioning of the historical radioactive waste.

Characterization involves describing the waste with the required level of detail before it can be transferred from Danish Decommissioning to a future repository. For some of the so-called historical waste, information regarding the origin of the waste items is found in an older paper archive and is often incomplete. The existing information must be transferred to the current electronic system. Furthermore, the waste items must be characterized. This means that the activity of individual items must be measured, and samples must be taken from the items where relevant and possible. Subsequently, the items must be packaged in containers suitable for disposal. Based on the measurements and calculations performed, the waste is characterized.

The first phase of the characterization is planned and scheduled for execution in 2013.