Belgian Premier Bart De Wever has laid the first stone of the surface disposal plant in Dessel, which will store all of Belgium’s low- and medium-level short-lived waste.
The federal government had approved the project in Dessel 2006. ONDRAF/NIRAS (Organisme National des Déchets Radioactifs et des matières Fissiles enrichies/ Nationale Instelling voor Radioactief Afval en verrijkte Splijtstoffen) initially applied to Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC – Federaal Agentschap voor Nucleaire Controle) for a licence in 2013 but FANC requested revisions and a final application was submitted in 2019. A permit to proceed was then granted in 2023.
In June, ONDRAF/NIRAS appointed contractors to construct the facility. NucleusSafe will be responsible for civil engineering and Denys for electromechanical work.
ONDRAF/NIRAS Director-General Marc Demarche noted: “This repository is the first time that a safe and final disposal facility will be realised for part of our nuclear waste. This would never have been possible without the support of the people of Dessel and Mol, who have been at the helm of the project since the turn of the century.”
He added: “It took many years and a lot of effort on the part of our teams to meticulously prepare this disposal project. For example, the safety file is nearly 25,000 pages long, demonstrating in detail how we will guarantee safety for at least 300 years. Now it’s up to the contractors to start the work and up to us to monitor it.”
The type of waste that will be stored in Dessel mainly originates from the dismantling of NPPs and other nuclear facilities, but also from hospitals, industry, and research institutions. The facility will consist of concrete bunkers, each holding large concrete containers in which the radioactive waste will be encapsulated with mortar. It is designed to store all existing and future low- and intermediate-level short-lived waste in Belgium.
Disposal will take place over a period of 50 years. Afterward, the facility will be permanently sealed with natural and artificial layers to protect against water infiltration, creating two green hills about 20 metres high. The site must then be preserved and monitored for at least 300 years. The project costs around €230m ($270m) and the first storage units should be ready by 2030.
“Nuclear technology will remain an essential part of our energy strategy,” De Wever said. “It is safe, reliable, low-carbon, and affordable – the EU now formally recognises this as well. Moreover, it helps us move towards energy independence, which is crucial in these geopolitically uncertain times.”
Belgium is still considering methods for disposal of its high-level radioactive waste, which is currently managed at nuclear sites. “The principle of deep geological disposal has been approved, and we are now examining how to implement it,” said ONDRAF/NIRAS spokeswoman Sigrid Eeckhout.
