The latest IAEA missions from 10 March to 22 March aim at incorporating Iraq’s advancements into a national integrated strategy for radioactive waste management, emphasizing environmental safety and international standards compliance.
“It’s crucial that we bring to a successful and satisfactory phase, the work of decommissioning, the work of remediation of the remnants from the past,” Mr Grossi said.
“IAEA experts are this week present in Baghdad, carrying out important technical work.”
During the visit to the Al Tuwaitha site, Mr Grossi learned how plans for a new Iraqi low-level radioactive waste (LLW) repository are taking shape.
Once at the heart of Iraq´s nuclear programme, the Al Tuwaitha site has proved particularly challenging in terms of decommissioning and remediation. Its former nuclear facilities were destroyed due to military actions between 1981 and 2003, rather than taken out of operation in a controlled and planned way. Many facilities were damaged or looted.
The proposed Al Tuwaitha Disposal Facility has been designed with IAEA assistance under the EU’s Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation project and aims to provide a solution for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste arising from the decommissioning of Iraqi nuclear installations.
“Given Iraq’s complex inventory of radioactive waste resulting from decommissioning activities and various forms of contaminated or nuclear material, the integration of its management into a single integrated strategy is imperative,” said Rebecca Robbins, an IAEA waste management expert.
