Two new members join the Expert Group on Deep Geological Repositories

Two new members have joined the Expert Group on Deep Geological Repositories (EGT). With effect from 1 January 2018, the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate, ENSI, is delighted to announce the appointment of Horst Geckeis and Neil Mancktelow as new members. Alan Geoffrey Milnes has stepped down from the EGT due to retirement.

In the words of Felix Altorfer, Director of ENSI’s Waste Disposal Division, “Both new members have many years of valuable experience to offer the EGT in fields such as structural geology, water chemistry and radioactive waste disposal”.

Neil Mancktelow
Horst Geckeis

Neil Mancktelow, who takes over from Alan Geoffrey Milnes, is a titular professor and lecturer at the Institute of Geology, part of the Earth Sciences Department at ETH Zurich. He lectures and researches in the field of structural geology.

Mancktelow’s research interests cover a wide range of subjects from geometry, through kinematics and the mechanics of rock deformation in microstructures, right up to tectonics in mountain ranges.

The second new member, Horst Geckeis, is the head of the Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal (INE) and Professor of Radiochemistry at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Horst Geckeis has been a member of the German Final Disposal Committee of the Nuclear Waste Management Commission (ESK) since 2008, and Chair of the Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Endlagerforschung (DAEF) (German Association for Repository Research) since 2013.

His expertise in the field of radioactive waste disposal complements the EGT’s existing knowledge base.

The EGT assists ENSI with the sectoral plan procedure for deep geological repositories and advises on geological and structural engineering issues.

The EGT, led by Simon Löw, Professor of Engineering Geology at the Institute of Geology at ETH Zurich, is made up of academic experts who have no contractual relationship with the deep geological repository project designers.