ADVERTORIAL FEATURE | VEOLIA NUCLEAR SOLUTIONS (VNS)
Innovative nuclear waste management
As the UK embarks on the next phase of its nuclear journey, the imperative of efficient waste management and decommissioning is becoming very apparent
THE UK HAS BEEN AT the forefront of all aspects of the nuclear industry for the past 70 years. As the dawn of the next phase of nuclear energy arrives to meet the goals of net zero and energy self-sufficiency, the UK can once again be a model for safe and efficient nuclear energy production. This begins with accelerating the treatment of its 70 years- worth of legacy waste. Efficient treatment of nuclear waste means increased benefit to employing nuclear energy and allows for smarter design decisions, which can be guided by lessons learned during the final part of the waste life cycle. The UK government has been proactively engaging with the industry through their Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), calling for innovative and new solutions to meet this challenge. Efficient implementation of decommissioning and waste
management systems can minimise risk and significantly cut costs. While the UK has an array of facilities and experience available, these are only able to meet current
Why is this important: Proper characterisation of waste coming from nuclear sites is needed to allow for lower cost diversion and most sites are equipped with appropriate labs to handle the throughput of the sampling required for site operations. However, for many UK sites, the mission today is decommissioning with the subcontracting of characterisation services and the decommissioning of site laboratories falls under the mission. Yet the transport and off-site processing of active samples also pose risks including a loss of control over the processing of samples to meet the mission priorities. Characterisation is required throughout the
decommissioning lifecycle: ● At the front end - as an essential enabler to waste led decommissioning - identifying the most cost- effective processing and disposal route and maximising reuse and recycle for out-of-scope materials.
● During decommissioning operations - to routinely monitor and ensure that the wastes are as expected and appropriate safeguards are in place.
● Prior to disposal - to confirm the waste processing and storage / disposal route prior to dispatch and that the most cost effective disposal routes are being deployed in practice.
In today’s environment, and in line with ongoing consultations, some of the decommissioning challenges associated with low activity nuclear wastes are breaching the boundaries of whether the radioactivity or other hazards are the more dominant. Again, characterisation and understanding our waste profiles is critical to the efficient processing of such materials including the potential to maximise reuse and recycle. Characterisation is not limited to activity but could be an enabler to opening other conventional disposal routes for hazardous wastes.
Above, figure 1: Reproduced from Nuclear Waste Services’ Corporate Strategy 2023
28 | September 2023 |
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operational needs. Existing capabilities will not, however, be able to handle the more than 4 million cubic metres of waste identified by NWS as yet to be recovered and treated to complete the UK’s decommissioning programme. This waste and the desire to accelerate the decommissioning of all Magnox reactors, the obsolete submarine fleet and the research sites like Sellafield and Dounreay and the AGR
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