GMF / ENWD meeting held Krško, Slovenia, 16-17 May 2022
The GMF / ENWD meeting took place in Krško (Slovenia) from 16 to 17 May 2022. A social networking was organised in the evening of 16th May with a visit to the Castle Rajhenburg, and a tasting of Hungarian sparkling wine. The networking event was a fantastic opportunity to meet each other after more than two years without having had in-person meetings.
On 17th March, 55 members of GMF, mostly from Bulgaria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom participated in the seminar which focused on radioactive waste management. After a short introduction by the mayor of the hosting municipality, Mr. Miran Stanko, the GMF president, Ms. Pia Almström, gave some introductory words.
Mr. Shin Horiguchi from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) presented the wide range of services and products to support Member States in stakeholder engagement efforts in nuclear programmes. A Technical Meeting for Municipalities with Nuclear Facilities is scheduled for 31 Oct – 4th Nov 2022. The purpose of this Technical Meeting is to provide an opportunity for dialogue between and with representatives of municipalities with nuclear facilities, and to enhance awareness of and share experiences on topics of interest to stakeholders at the local level.
The local context of nuclear activities was then presented by three local speakers: Stane Rožman from nuclear power plant Krško, Tomaž Žagar from the Nuclear Society of Slovenia and Danijel Levičar from Gen energija. Presentations are available at the GMF website.
The GMF group was then divided into 3 working groups (Hungarian and Slovak group, Spanish group and mixed group of different nationalities) which had around 40 minutes to discuss two different scenarios. The Spanish and the Hungarian groups had an scenario based on the current siting programme in the UK whilst the mixed group had an scenario based on the current Spanish situation. For the description of scenarios, please refer to presentations. The discussions in each of the working groups were presented by a nominated rapporteur. In both scenarios it was highlighted that municipalities should have a predominant role in the decision making process around radioactive waste management. Transparency and openness are key factors for a sustainable collaboration process between the local and the national levels.
Two technical visits were organised as part of the programme:
Svet energije: interactive multimedia centre on energy and the energy industry which promotes a better understanding of the role of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and sustainable electricity generation.
ZEL –EN: institute of development for energetics with equipped development laboratories for technological development of hydro and aero energetics, wooden biomass, biogas, geothermal energy, hydrogen technology, sustainable construction, photovoltaic, and nuclear energy.
After a fruitful day, a nice dinner was offered at the Kunst hotel by Krško municipality.