WP5 - Local stakeholders engagement

Work Package 5: Effectively engaging local stakeholders in R&D on monitoring for geological disposal

Repository monitoring is a subject of interest to a wide-range of stakeholders. In particular, public stakeholders may expect monitoring to provide continued information on repository performance. As such, early involvement of public stakeholders may improve their confidence in the monitoring programme. We focus specifically on the challenge of involving local public stakeholders, that is to say, people in concerned communities (either potential repository host communities, or communities hosting an underground research laboratory (URL). They represent the most directly concerned public, but are often the furthest away with regard to RD&D activity and the development of the technology with which they will eventually be confronted.

The objectives of WP5 are to:

- Engage local public stakeholders in repository monitoring RD&D, and to analyse the impact this has on both the participating stakeholders’ and the project partners’ understanding of, and expectations regarding, repository monitoring.

- Define more specific ways for integrating public stakeholder concerns and expectations into specific repository monitoring programmes.

- Develop ideas on how to ensure accessibility and transparency of monitoring data (of the type gathered through in-situ monitoring) to public stakeholders.

- Learn lessons on how local stakeholder groups could be engaged effectively with RD&D programmes and projects at an EU level. 

This Work Package involves cross-cutting work, and will be facilitated by close collaboration with work undertaken in WP2, WP3 and WP4. The ambition is to actively engage local public stakeholders in the strategy and RD&D work of the Modern2020 Project.