Geological disposal: KM challenges and solutions

Geological disposal of radioactive waste epitomises many of the greatest challenges in Knowledge Management (KM): collating and synthesising knowledge from a host of diverse disciplines with exponentially expanding information bases, developing and preserving tacit knowledge in a project implemented over more than a century, rigorously assuring quality and ensuring informed dialogue between all stakeholders. It has become increasingly obvious that conventional KM approaches cannot cope and hence a major project was initiated in Japan 5 years ago, with the aim of establishing a truly 21st century Knowledge Management System. Emphasis has been very much on transfer of ideas and technology that have been shown to work elsewhere and learning from the successes and, in particular, the failures from similar KM projects. Although still under development, a web‐based platform is now functional, providing user‐friendly access to knowledge bases, knowledge engineering (KE) tools and communication interfaces at levels tailored to key stakeholder groups.