On November 14, 2017, NUMO held an international seminar on the radioactive waste management in Belgium, with about 80 people. Mr. Jean-Paul Minon, former Director General of ONDRAF/NIRAS, gave a presentation mainly about the Belgian siting process for low- and medium-level short-lived waste disposal and public participation in the process. He shared the lessons learned about the siting process. The technical approach which defends sites decided based on technical aspects was not accepted by the public in 1994. Therefore, they developed a local partnership approach which ensures involvement of local communities in decision-making on a voluntary basis in 1998. As the result, the government decided a site of surface disposal in Dessel in 2006. Another lesson learned was the importance of communication with the safety authority from an early stage before licensing in order to facilitate explanation smoothly at the licensing process. In the round-table discussion, it was shared that it is important to maintain open dialogue with local people to build a good relationship for the same goal, developing a safe disposal facility. The seminar program is as follows:

Date:	November 14, Tuesday, 2017
Time:	1:30 p.m. through 4:00 p.m.
Venue:	Mita NN Hall and Space (Mita NN Building), Tokyo

Program:

1.	Welcome remarks Dr. Kondo Shunsuke, President, NUMO
2.	Presentation "Communication and Public Participation" by Mr. Jean-Paul Minon, former Director General, ONDRAF/NIRAS
3.	Round-table discussion Mr. Jean-Paul Minon Dr. Kondo Shunsuke Ms. Murakami Tomoko 　Group Manager, Nuclear Energy Group, Strategy Research Unit, 　The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan

The presentation material is available for download here.

The details of the seminar are posted on Japanese pages (only in Japanese).