Next generation Digital Twins to support Optimisation, Construction and Operation of surface and subsurface radioactive waste management facilities (DITOCO2030)
WP Leader: Réka Szoke (IFE, Norway)
Objectives
Lay-out the path on how to close the R&D gap between the currently fragmented digital twins (DT) of individual disciplines, common data environments and decision-making platforms to better understand the opportunities and limitations of DT in their deployment in whole life cycle of waste management.
Major highlights (March 2025 - March 2026)
Successfully hosted two pivotal stakeholder webinars, including the session on September 29, 2025, titled “From Concept to Practice: Stakeholder Perspectives on Digital Twins for Radioactive Waste Facilities (DITOCO2030),” and a focused discussion in January 2026 on the outcomes of the DITOCO White Paper. These engagements delivered valuable insights, highlighted critical lessons learned, and advanced recommended standards, data formats, and proposed system architectures to drive the effective development, integration, and standardization of Digital Twins specifically designed for Deep Geological Repositories.
During the reporting period, the WP focused on collaboration and knowledge exchange through regular meetings to share updates, address challenges, and align on project goals.
Active participation at the 1st Annual Event in Bologna was key to strengthening inter-project collaboration. The joint session "DITOCO2030 and HERMES Digital Transformation" enabled valuable exchange of best practices and insights on digital transformation in the nuclear sector, broadening understanding of digital twin applications for radioactive waste management.
Enhanced visibility and contributed expert perspectives at key industry conferences, including FISA-EURADWASTE 2025, SNETP Forum 2025, DigiDECOM NUCLEAR Next Summit, and SNETP Forum.
Advanced the deliverables of EURAD-2 by completing D15.5, the Green Paper on Digital Twins.
The White Paper’s review level was elevated from medium to high, marking the report as ready for formal review and underscoring the project’s commitment to excellence and international standards.
Forward look
Building on recent achievements, the next phase will focus on publishing the White Paper, which will outline essential requirements for digital twins. These requirements will be converted into actionable qualitative and quantitative performance targets, ensuring that recommendations directly support practical implementation and end-user needs. Our approach emphasizes collaboration, engaging stakeholders to guarantee that solutions are relevant and impactful.
We will continue to foster community engagement by presenting at EUG2026, participating in the 2nd Annual Workshop in September, and co-organizing a joint session with the HERMES R&D work package.
All previous and future activities are designed to strengthen further partnerships, encourage knowledge sharing, and drive collective progress toward innovative, user-centered digital twin solutions for nuclear waste management.
Objectives
Lay-out the path on how to close the R&D gap between the currently fragmented digital twins (DT) of individual disciplines, common data environments and decision-making platforms to better understand the opportunities and limitations of DT in their deployment in whole life cycle of waste management.
Description of the WP
The nuclear sector is now at the doorstep of adopting new technologies for its safety-critical and societally important endeavours. A DT of an intermediate storage facility, or a subsurface facility for radioactive waste disposal is a virtual replica of the physical facility that is created using carefully selected and appropriate results needed for decision-making. At present, differently structured data, heterogeneous transfer methods, and proprietary software applications prevent the digital continuity of this information from the appointed to the appointing party. One of the biggest challenges is to harmonize the various objectives and issues of DT (long-term safety, operational phase, design and optimization, communication…) and federate in an interoperable way all the dedicated disciplines and knowledge in a DT.
Cross-industrial cooperation for next-generation DT in the nuclear sector can yield significant benefits in terms of innovation, safety, and efficiency. The vision of this WP is to establish a shared understanding of the specific requirements from various disciplines within a Digital Twin (DT) framework. The WP will identify the major challenges to tackle and set key performance indicators to identify the expertise and capacity that is needed to address the RD&D challenges. The added value lies in the evidence-based i) identification and management of risks, ii) performance assessment of safety margins, iii) optimization of design configurations, iv) calculation of costs to completion, v) engagement improvement with stakeholders.
As of today, there is no universally applicable Digital Twin (DT) in existence. However, there is an expectation that significant steps can be taken toward realizing this vision within the framework of EURAD-2 DITOCO work. This progress will involve the progress towards a more aligned markup language and an open standard for nuclear waste management. Achieving this goal necessitates a collaborative international effort, and cross-industrial cooperation, EURAD-2 is ideally positioned to facilitate the development required for this purpose.
Outcomes
Given the strategic nature of this study, the anticipated outcomes are high-level and equally beneficial for all three identified drivers:
Establishment of a Glossary: A glossary will be created, defining DT for use in nuclear waste management and cross-referencing with other industrial sectors. (KM)
Clear Definition of Objectives: A precise definition of the goals that digital twins are meant to achieve. (Scientific Insight)
Use Cases: Demonstrations of how DT support the evaluation, implementation, maintenance, and optimization of facility designs. This is accomplished by leveraging structured and unified information and evaluating results from various disciplines through a shared coordination platform. Close cooperation with other WPs (WP3, 13, 16, 18) will provide up-to-date information about recent developments related to the safety of the radioactive waste management systems. (Implementation Safety, Scientific Insight)
Key Requirement Identification: Identification of essential requirements for digital twins, translated into measurable qualitative and quantitative performance targets. (Scientific Insight)
Consensus Documentation/Position(white) Papers: The consensus reached among stakeholders will be documented in position papers outlining the specific needs of individual disciplines within the DT framework. This will serve to facilitate effective decision-making during the planning, construction, and operation of radioactive waste management facilities, as well as in communication. (all)
Guidance on Standards and Methods: Recommendations will be provided regarding international standards, methodologies, and markup languages to guide the implementation of DT in this context. (all)
