1. INTRODUCTION

Procedures for remediating land associated with nuclear activities have been undertaken since the 1950s. Since then, techniques have improved and the sustainability of current remediation is greatly superior to the earlier efforts. The sites of some nuclear power plants and research reactors have been released after the reactors have been decommissioned; a number of uranium mines and processing facilities have been remediated; other sites associated with radioactive material, both naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) due to unregulated activities and artificial radionuclides, mainly resulting from accidents or past practice, have also been remediated. As a consequence considerable knowledge and experience have been gathered. In the past 15 years, the remediation of NORM facilities (including uranium mines and mills) has come more to the fore as activities whose safety needs to be managed and considered in the same way as other areas contaminated by radioactive material. Also during this time, the radiation protection system has included criteria specific to existing situations of exposure and increasingly society has been encouraged to become involved and to participate in the decision making process. Therefore, there has been increasing awareness of the scale of occurrence of NORM and that radioactive contamination may be far more widespread than previously appreciated, albeit, for the most part, at very low levels. Over the period, continuous improvement in the standards of environmental management required by regulatory authorities has led to improved standards of management by operating companies and thus a wealth of experience has been gathered as to which systems and processes of remediation have been the most successful. Equally important, there have been a number of valuable lessons learned about what does not work.

The last international IAEA symposium on the topic of remediation of radioactive contaminated sites was in Arlington, United States of America, in late 1999. It is therefore both timely and appropriate that now, 10 years on, a similar event be organized to provide a forum for all the parties involved in remediation of such contaminated sites to gather and exchange ideas, review progress and new developments since 1999, compare technologies and methods, and thus disseminate information and experience.

2. OBJECTIVES

The main objective of the conference is to facilitate international cooperation and to promote the application of international standards and good practices. Additional objectives are to raise awareness, and encourage the sharing of information and lessons learned on policy and regulatory, safety, technological, managerial and related socioeconomical aspects of the remediation of sites contaminated with radioactive materials, including NORM.

3. TOPICS

The main part of the conference will be devoted to the following key topical issues which have been identified as subjects for the contributed papers:

• Progress and lessons learned in environmental remediation approaches since Arlington 1999;
• National and international policies and strategies;
• Options for the demonstration of compliance with safety and other applicable criteria;
• Introduction of innovative technologies in remediation activities;
• Changing requirements in environmental management and remediation;
• Safe management of residues, waste and sites resulting from the termination of practices;
• Options for environmental remediation and waste–residue management in NORM industries and legacy sites;
• Management and optimization of occupational radiation protection during remediation activities.

4. PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

The conference programme will be based on the following approach:

• An opening session will set the conference objectives. An introductory background session will include keynote presentations providing a technical overview.
• A sequence of topical sessions will examine the relevant issues. Major issues in each session will be introduced by senior experts. Ample time for discussion will be provided.
• Poster sessions will be organized for presentation of contributed papers.
• A closing session will summarize the principal observations made during the conference.

5. AUDIENCE

The conference is directed at a broad range of experts in the area of contaminated site remediation, including professionals from the different disciplines involved in all aspects of the remediation process. This may include mining companies, mineral processors from industries associated with NORM, associated installations in all areas of the fuel cycle and research reactors. It is aimed at both licensees and governmental officials, including representatives of regulatory bodies, the industry and academia, as well as senior policy makers.

6. PARTICIPATION

All persons wishing to participate in the conference are requested to register online in advance. In addition, they must send a completed Participation Form (Form A) and, if relevant, the Paper Submission Form (Form B) and the Grant Application Form (Form C) as soon as possible to the competent official authority (Ministry of Foreign Affairs or national atomic energy authority) for subsequent transmission to the IAEA. A participant will be accepted only if the Participation Form is transmitted through the government of a Member State of the IAEA or by an organization invited to participate.

Participants whose official designations have been received by the IAEA will receive further information on the conference at least three months before the meeting. This information will also be available on the conference website:

http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/Announcements.asp?ConfID=35422.

7. CONTRIBUTED PAPERS AND POSTERS

Concise papers related to the topics of the conference (Section 3 above) may be submitted as contributions to the conference. A limited number of papers may be selected for oral presentation. The papers that will not be presented orally will be included in a Book of Contributed Papers which will be distributed to all participants upon registration. Authors of contributed papers are expected to present the substance of their papers as a poster for exhibition at the conference.
The contributed papers must not exceed four pages in length and must be submitted in English. Each contributed paper must be preceded by an abstract not exceeding 300 words. Authors should state to which of the above technical topic their contribution relates. Authors must use the IAEA’s Proceedings Paper Template in Word 2000 (user instructions are available on the conference web page (Section 15). Guidelines for the preparation of a contributed paper are given in the attached IAEA Guidelines for Authors on the Preparation of Manuscripts for Proceedings.

The contributed papers should be submitted to the following email address:

ERC2009@iaea.org

or sent on diskette/CD-ROM to the Scientific Secretariat (Section 14). The diskette label should identify the paper, the proposed session topic and the software application used (the use of Microsoft Word is encouraged). To permit selection and review, the electronic version of the contributed paper must be received by the Scientific Secretariat not later than 15 January 2009.

In addition to the electronic submission, a copy of the contributed paper(s) must also be submitted through one of the competent official authorities (Section 10). The paper should be sent with a completed Form for Submission of a Paper (Form B) and the Participation Form (Form A) to reach the IAEA not later than 15 January 2009.

Only papers that have been received by the above deadline and through the appropriate official channels will be considered by the Programme Committee. The Secretariat reserves the right to exclude papers that do not comply with its quality standards and do not apply to one of the topics in Section 3 above.

Papers that are not sent through the official channels and papers arriving after the deadline will not be considered.

Authors will be informed in March 2009, whether their papers have been accepted for oral presentation or for inclusion in the Book of Contributed Papers.

8. DISTRIBUTION OF DOCUMENTS AND PROCEEDINGS

A preliminary programme will be put on the IAEA conference website as soon as possible. The final programme and the book of contributed papers will be available free of charge upon registration at the conference. The proceedings of the conference will be published by the IAEA as soon as possible after the conference.

9. EXPENDITURES/GRANTS

No registration fee is charged to participants.

As a general rule, the IAEA does not pay the cost of attendance, i.e. travel and living expenses, of participants. However, limited funds are available to help meet the cost of the attendance of selected specialists, mainly from developing countries with low economic resources. Generally, not more than one grant will be awarded to any one country.

If governments wish to apply for a grant on behalf of one of their specialists, they should address specific requests to the IAEA to this effect.
Governments should ensure that applications for grants:

(a) are submitted by 15 December 2008;
(b) are accompanied by a duly completed and signed Grant Application Form
(see attached Form C).

Applications that do not comply with the conditions stated under (a) and (b) cannot be considered.
The grants awarded will be in the form of lump sums and usually cover only part of the cost of attendance.

10. CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION

The Participation Form (Form A), the Paper Submission Form (Form B) and, if applicable, the Grant Application Form (Form C) must be sent through one of the competent official authorities (Ministry of Foreign Affairs or national atomic energy authority) for subsequent transmission to the IAEA. Subsequent communications concerning technical matters should be sent to the Scientific Secretary and communications on administrative/logistical matters to the Conference Secretariat (Section 14).

11. EXHIBITS

A limited amount of space will be available for commercial vendors’ displays/exhibits during the conference. Interested parties should contact the Scientific Secretary.

11. WORKING LANGUAGE

The working language of the meeting will be English. All communications must, therefore, be sent to the IAEA in English.

12. ACCOMMODATION

Detailed information on accommodation and other administrative details will be sent to all officially designated participants approximately three months before the meeting. It will also be available on the IAEA conference website.

13. VISAS

Designated participants who require a visa to enter Kazakhstan should submit the necessary application(s) to the nearest diplomatic or consular representative of Kazakhstan as soon as possible. Please keep an eye on the conference web site for further advice/instructions on this.

14. CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT
International Atomic Energy Agency
PO Box 100
Wagramer Strasse 5
1400 Vienna, Austria
Telephone No.: (+43 1) 2600
Telefax No.: (+43 1) 2600 7
E-mail: Official.mail@iaea.org
E-mail address for abstract submission: ERC2009@iaea.org

Scientific Secretaries of the Conference:

Mr. Horst R. Monken Fernandes
Waste Technology Section
Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Management
Telephone No.: (+43 1) 2600 24673
E-mail: H.Monken-Fernandes@iaea.org

Mr. Russel Edge
Waste and Environmental Safety Section
Division of Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety
Telephone No.: (+43 1) 2600 22602
E-mail: R.Edge@iaea.org

Conference Co-ordinator:

Ms. H. Schmid
Conference Services Section
Division of Conference and Document Services
Telephone No.: (+43 1) 2600 21316
E-mail: H.Schmid@iaea.org

15. CONFERENCE WEBSITE

Please visit the IAEA conference website regularly for new information regarding the conference under:
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/Announcements.asp?ConfID=35422.