NATIONALE INSTELLING VOOR RADIOACTIEF AFVAL EN VERRIJKTE SPLIJSTOFFEN

Their core work

ONDRAF-NIRAS is Belgium's national agency responsible for the management of radioactive waste and enriched fissile materials. They handle the full lifecycle of radioactive waste — from collection and processing to long-term storage and geological disposal. Their EU project work focuses on advancing safe disposal technologies, monitoring strategies for deep geological repositories, and thermal treatment methods to minimize radioactive waste volumes. As a national mandate body, they bring regulatory knowledge and operational experience that few academic or commercial partners can match.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ONDRAF-NIRAS started with focused, technically specific projects — monitoring technologies for geological disposal (Modern2020, 2015) and thermal treatment for waste reduction (THERAMIN, 2017). By 2019, they joined EURAD, a much larger European Joint Programme covering the full breadth of radioactive waste management, signaling a shift from narrow technical contributions to broader strategic participation. This progression mirrors the wider European trend toward integrated, cross-border approaches to nuclear waste challenges.

Moving from targeted technical projects toward comprehensive European coordination on radioactive waste policy and science, suggesting growing strategic influence in the field.

How they like to work

ONDRAF-NIRAS participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as a national implementing body that contributes domain expertise rather than driving research agendas. They operate in large consortia (128 unique partners across 27 countries), particularly through the EURAD joint programme. This makes them an accessible partner: they are experienced in multi-national collaboration and accustomed to working within complex consortium structures.

With 128 unique consortium partners across 27 countries, ONDRAF-NIRAS is deeply embedded in Europe's radioactive waste management community. Their network spans nearly all EU member states, reflecting the pan-European nature of nuclear waste governance.

What sets them apart

ONDRAF-NIRAS is one of a small number of national radioactive waste management agencies in Europe, giving them a unique blend of regulatory authority, operational mandate, and technical expertise that universities and private companies simply cannot replicate. For consortium builders, they bring legitimacy and real-world implementation context — they are not studying waste disposal theoretically, they are responsible for actually doing it in Belgium. This makes them an essential partner for any project that needs to demonstrate practical applicability of nuclear waste solutions.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EURAD
  By far their largest project (EUR 682,047), a European Joint Programme uniting the continent's radioactive waste management organizations under one research umbrella.
• Modern2020
  Focused on demonstration of monitoring strategies for geological disposal — directly relevant to Belgium's own planned deep geological repository.