Tim McEwen

Geological Consultant at McEwen Consulting

Speaker

Tim McEwen has more than 35 years’ experience in radioactive waste disposal, mainly associated with the selection and characterisation of potential disposal sites, for both waste management organisations and regulatory bodies in many countries, and with the effects of natural processes on the long-term safety of disposal facilities. He has been involved in the design, development and operation of several site selection and site characterisation programmes for low, intermediate and high level radioactive wastes. He has also been associated with the development of several R&D programmes and safety assessments, supplying information on geological events and processes, and in particular the effect of geosphere evolution on long-term safety, and in the review of such assessments. He has been involved in defining potentially suitable geological disposal environments, and the effects of geological events on the behaviour of these environments, especially in Japan. Over the last few years he has been extensively involved with Posiva’s programme in developing an underground research facility, the ONKALO, and a repository at Olkiluoto, Finland. This has involved extensive work associated with the development of a series of Site Descriptive Models of Olkiluoto and also the development of a Rock Suitability Classification system. He has also been involved in helping to define potentially interesting disposal environments in the UK for the disposal of long-lived wastes.