6.2. Key programmes (e.g. site characterization, design activities, accounting for, and control of, nuclear material and environmental monitoring, safety assessment) will be ongoing over a number of steps in the development of the disposal facility (see Fig. 1). As information matures and evolves with the safety case, design and site characterization, information from these key programmes should be shared among other relevant programmes (e.g. the safety case should inform the site characterization and design programmes of the relevance of uncertainties; performance monitoring should be used to provide confirmation of assumptions made in the safety case). The step by step process is an iterative process that should maximize the value of information as it evolves over the series of steps.