About me

I was happy to once again attend — together with a colleague — the Long Night of Research in Vienna on 24 April 2026 at the invitation of the Radiation Protection Department of the Ministry of Environment (BMLUK).

We alternated in presenting radioactive waste management in Austria and were available before, after, and between presentations to answer the many questions that arose during the evening.

Thank you to everyone who visited our station, showed interest in the topic, and asked thoughtful questions. Special thanks as well to our hosts for having us.Seeing the curiosity and engagement of so many visitors made the long evening absolutely worthwhile!

A colleague and I were invited by the Österreichische Mineralogische Gesellschaft (ÖMG) to present “Management and Disposal Options for Austrian Radioactive Waste” in March – first at the University of Vienna, then at the University of Graz, and finally at the Montanuniversität Leoben – to students and researchers from the field of geosciences.

It was great to see so much interest in a topic where interdisciplinary exchange is so important, and which is not only a technological challenge but also a societal one, in which radiation protection, environmental protection and intergenerational responsibility are equally important.

Special thanks to our kind hosts for having us!

At the International Conference on Radioactive Waste Management: Solutions for a Sustainable Future hosted by the IAEA (1–5 November 2021), we presented a poster entitled “Reconditioning of Historic Waste in Austria.”

Abstract

To comply with regulations and ensure state-of-the-art treatment of historically conditioned radioactive waste in Austria, as well as to guarantee safe interim storage until 2045, historic conditioned radioactive waste is being reconditioned as part of an ongoing project.

Waste drums representing all three main conditioning types found in Austria — super-compacted pellets, homogeneously cemented drums, and inhomogeneously cemented drums — have already been successfully reconditioned.

The project has provided valuable experience with all three waste forms. Particularly important steps included the pre-sorting of waste types based on existing documentation, the use of specialized modular machinery to dismantle drums layer by layer in order to minimize cross-contamination, and the radiological and chemical characterization performed both during and after processing.

As a final step, documentation of the original drums is consolidated with data obtained from the reconditioning process and from radiological and chemical analyses.

The full conference proceedings can be downloaded here:

IAEA Conference Proceedings – Radioactive Waste Management

At the International Conference on Radioactive Waste Management: Solutions for a Sustainable Future hosted by the IAEA (1–5 November 2021), I was honored to be invited as a speaker for the opening session. My presentation focused on “Integrated Waste Stream Management in a Small Inventory Country.”

As quoted in the conference proceedings:

Austria is typical of many small waste inventory nations: it has no nuclear power plants, a single research reactor, and comparatively small amounts of radioactive waste arising from industrial, research, and medical nuclear applications. Mr. Neckel of Austria’s waste management organization, Nuclear Engineering Seibersdorf (NES), described the arrangements for radioactive waste management in Austria.

The proceedings further highlighted NES’s responsibilities in radioactive waste collection, characterization, conditioning, interim storage, and the ongoing re-conditioning of legacy waste drums using modern technologies. They also described Austria’s ongoing efforts toward the development of a final repository solution for radioactive waste.

The full conference proceedings can be downloaded here:
IAEA Conference Proceedings – Radioactive Waste Management

Later during the conference, I also had the opportunity to chair the session on Integrated Waste Management. 

It was an exciting experience to be involved in such a large international conference and to hear so many different perspectives and presentations from experts all over the world.

At KONTEC 2021, the international symposium and trade fair on the conditioning of radioactive operational and decommissioning waste and the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, held in Dresden from 25 to 27 August 2021, I had the opportunity to present a poster entitled “Development and Roll-Out of a QR Code-Based Electronic Material Flow System at NES.”

The poster introduced a project I led in 2019/2020, which focused on the development and implementation of an electronic material flow system based on QR codes. The project aimed to improve transparency, traceability, and efficiency in the handling and documentation of material flows at Nuclear Engineering Seibersdorf.It was a valuable opportunity to share practical experience from the project and to discuss digitalization in radioactive waste management with experts from the field.