NO TIME WASTED! 25 years COVRA: Radioactive Waste Management in the Netherlands

Time will render radioactive waste harmless. How can we manage the time radioactive substances remain harmful? Just ‘wait and see’ or ‘marking time’ is not an option. We need to isolate the waste from our living environment and control it as long as necessary. December 2007 was a time to commemorate, as the national waste management organisation of the Netherlands, COVRA, celebrated its 12 th anniversary. During this period of 25 years a stable policy has been formulated and implemented. For the situation in the Netherlands, it was obvious that a period of long term storage was needed. Both the small volume of waste and the limited financial possibilities are determining factors. Time is needed to let the volume of waste grow and to let the money, needed for disposal, grow in a capital growth fund. A historical overview of the activities of COVRA is presented and lessons learned over a period of 25 years are given.