Managing nuclear waste knowledge for future generations
[ Research Review 0307 : ]
By Rebecca Scott
As Australia struggles to embrace nuclear power, researchers are seeking ways to preserve knowledge on the dangers of toxic waste.
Gavan McCarthy, Director of the University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre, is part of an international team developing a web-based radioactive waste information system to ensure future generations are not victims of nuclear disasters through lack of data or knowledge.
“With the International Atomic Energy Agency, we have developed a nuclear archival system which could revolutionise how radioactive waste information is stored and managed world wide,” says McCarthy.
McCarthy says radioactive waste repositories may well be the longest lasting things ever created by man and with that comes a high level of responsibility.
“Disposal sites for nuclear waste are going to make the pyramids look young. They will need continuous monitoring and active management for very long periods of time – for as long as they pose a safety threat to people and the environment.”
“I had no knowledge” will not be an excuse with radioactive waste. Records cannot afford to get lost or be misunderstood in the uncertain future facing humanity.
McCarthy says that common knowledge, the key to understanding records, is now disappearing on a five-year instead of a 30‑year basis.
“This greatly increases the risks to the community both in the near-term as well as in deep time unless this issue is addressed.”
Using a mix of network technologies, web-based services and data storage mechanisms, McCarthy has developed an ‘open’ complex information framework for the sharing and storing of knowledge.
The system globally interlinks information about people and organisations with databases and glossaries in a highly structured way. The system focuses on information that captures the context of the waste management and storage processes.
“Current archival media such as paper and current digital technologies will be certainly surpassed by superior technologies in the time-frames associated with radioactive waste. It is about the transfer from one form to another with 100 per cent accuracy.”
The radioactive waste information management system will provide continuity of current information anywhere in the world. This includes information about the life of the waste repositories as well as information relating to associated governmental, regulatory, financial, scientific, societal and environmental issues.
“The web is a great place to publish contextually-based historical information. This type of information will never go ‘out of date’ and provides an excellent framework for future generations to both locate, use, understand and annotate records from the past,” he says.
“The safe disposal of radioactive waste is a key responsibility of the entire nuclear industry community but the stakeholder groups extend out into society as a whole,” he says.
McCarthy says it is about the management of knowledge, that is, what people and communities ‘know,’ and the need to continually capture ‘common’ knowledge in a systematic way.
However, the risk of losing this knowledge is increasing as many more people are now employed in short-term positions or through out-sourced contractors.
“Our aim is to keep society continuously informed. Although the future is unpredictable, if we are clever about how we establish waste information management systems we should have a good chance of meeting the needs of the future generations.”
The Research has been funded by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the University of Melbourne.
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