Belgium will construct a surface disposal facility for low- and intermediate-level short-lived waste in Dessel. (Image: ONDRAF/NIRAS)
Brussels-based construction group Besix announced that is has been chosen by the Belgian agency for radioactive waste management ONDRAF/NIRAS for construction of the country’s surface disposal facility for low- and intermediate-level short-lived nuclear waste in Dessel.
The civil works will be carried out by NucleusSafe, a joint venture comprising Besix and its subsidiary Vanhout, along with construction companies Deckx and Stadsbader Contractors. Construction on the Dessel facility is set to begin next summer and will be carried out in phases over several decades.
The facility: The Belgian government made the decision in 2006 to dispose of all short-lived LLW and ILW in a surface disposal facility in the municipality of Dessel, about 35 miles east of Antwerp, near the Netherlands border. ONDRAF/NIRAS was issued a construction and operation license for the facility by the Belgian government in May 2023. It is the first and only disposal project for LLW and ILW in the country.
Waste will be isolated in the facility by multiple barriers, and once capacity is reached, the building will be sealed by a permanent cover consisting of several protective layers. According to ONDRAF/NIRAS, encapsulation and placement of the waste into the facility’s two modules will take decades to complete, after which the facility will eventually only be identifiable as two hills in the landscape.
Quote: Mark Beyst, general manager of Besix Belgium-Luxembourg, said, “Building our on successful delivery of the foundation pit for the Pallas reactor in the Netherlands, the fuel spent storage facilities in Doel and Tihange in Belgium, and a state-of-the-art nuclear medicine radioisotope facility in Sydney, we are proud to once again support the development of essential infrastructure in the nuclear sector. We remain fully committed to delivering this project with the highest standards of safety, technical precision, and operational excellence.”
