Alan Paulley, Paul Suckling and Peter Webb recently attended the WM2025 conference in Phoenix, Arizona. This year's event had a cross-conference theme on advanced technologies, artificial intelligence and workforce development that provided the basis for many sessions across the week.
Alan attended as a member of the organising committee and session chair, contributing to panels on decision support and systems thinking involving colleagues from around the world including from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Nuclear Restoration Services and Neptune and Company.
Peter and Paul took the opportunity to attend a wide variety of sessions and get a broad overview of the waste management industry, from country specific sessions (Canada, Ukraine) to site specific panels (Sellafield). They enjoyed sessions covering systems thinking, AI and machine learning, and decision support. Of particular interest were data driven, machine learning approaches to long-term environmental monitoring being applied at restoration sites in the United States, the different approaches to near-surface low-level waste disposal from around the world and the application of decision support approaches and the role they can assume in the regulatory process and wider stakeholder communication.
The conference was well organised and offered a mix of plenary, panel and oral presentation sessions. A panel discussion on the ongoing attempts to safely monitor nuclear sites in Ukraine was particularly eye-opening. Exhibitors demonstrated a variety of drones, robots and heavy machinery for use in remediation sites.
Peter was able to spend a day in the snowy deserts of Northern Arizona and see some spectacular geology. All three took in a Sunday afternoon baseball game at Sloan Park in Mesa.
