WASTE MANAGEMENT | CAPPING ACTION
therefore also a unique opportunity to boost a host region’s economy for many generations. Such a facility will only be built where there is both
a suitable site and a willing host community. Three communities across England, two in Cumbria – Mid Copeland and South Copeland – and one in Lincolnshire around Theddlethorpe are engaging in the programme to learn what hosting a GDF could mean for them. When a suitable site is selected, a process which could take 10-15 years, a decision to develop a GDF could not be taken until the potential host community has had a say and given consent through a Test of Public Support. Studies, that got underway in 2023, will now help to identify the suitable locations to begin further investigative work, such as drilling deep boreholes, to understand the geology and help ensure a GDF can be constructed, operated, and closed safely and securely. A decision on the first community to progress to deep borehole investigation and receive increased community investment as a result is expected to be shared with Government by 2026-2027. Construction will only start on a GDF when a suitable site
Top: Capping is a key part of the disposal lifecycle and will provide an engineered protective cover over legacy disposal trenches and vaults Source: NIA
Above:
A GDF will see the UK’s High-Level Waste permanently stored deep below ground
The works are scheduled to get underway in February
2025. Of course, a huge project like this requires a high degree of collaboration and working closely with a wide range of stakeholders, particularly the local community, to bring the capping programme through to completion. One of the key stakeholders is the Environment Agency which is helping to ensure compliance with environmental standards and the conditions of the Environmental Permit, along with Cumberland Council as the local authority, which has provided planning consent and set conditions for the site development.
A GDF for HLW NWS is also responsible for delivering a GDF for the UK, providing a permanent solution for the most hazardous radioactive waste that cannot be sent to the Drigg Repository or treated. Currently this waste is housed in around 20 above-ground facilities across the country – this is not sustainable as these facilities will need to be maintained and replaced for many thousands of years. When built, a GDF will also support the government’s plans to achieve a clean power system by 2030 and to accelerate to net zero across the wider economy – nuclear will play an essential role in the future age of clean electricity. Investing in a GDF now also removes the burden of managing the UK’s nuclear legacy from future generations. As a result, UK Government policy is to establish a GDF for the permanent disposal of the country’s most hazardous nuclear waste. This globally accepted solution will in time remove the need for any kind of human intervention in handling the most hazardous nuclear waste. While the development of a GDF will bring huge benefits
to the environment by providing a site for the safe, permanent disposal of nuclear waste, it will also bring benefits to the local host community – including community investment funding, significant investment funding from the government, jobs, infrastructure and transport. A GDF is
16 | January 2025 |
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has been identified, the host Community has confirmed its support, and all the necessary consents and permits have been obtained. GDF borehole investigations are expected to commence around 2029-2030 and the latest planning assumption is that a GDF will be available for intermediate level waste in the 2050s and high-level waste and spent fuel from 2075.
The final cap: what completing the programme will mean The UK has been producing and managing radioactive waste for many decades and will continue to do so for many more. Nuclear power is a key part of the country’s low-carbon energy mix and essential to securing our energy supply in the future. We also use radioactive materials in the UK’s defence, research, medical and industrial sectors. Through the work done to divert waste from the
repository NWS has extended the life of the repository, ensuring there is enough capacity to deliver the NWS waste disposal mission. Effective treatment of radioactive waste reduces overall
waste volumes and helps makes the radioactive waste permanently safe, sooner. NWS are involved in a number of crucial long-term activities to support this goal, including helping waste producers manage their waste in the most sustainable and cost-efficient way. The treatment and alternative disposal routes include sending the waste to permitted landfill, super compaction, combustion and metallic treatment. The organisations and businesses which produce the
waste have also been doing much more to cut the amount of material they send to the repository in West Cumbria, with 98% now being treated, reused and recycled. This has seen the number of containers that come to the site every year reduce from 700 to around 20 or 30. Putting the final cap on the vault and trenches at the
Repository is another one of these measures to make radioactive waste materials permanently safe. By procuring, importing and emplacing thousands of tonnes of capping materials in line with planning conditions and quality requirements, permanent closure of this important disposal site will be achieved, ensuring environmental protection and safety for generations to come. ■
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