WASTE MANAGEMENT | LOW LEVEL WASTE
Cumbria: Making waste safe, sooner
Over the last six decades the disposal of the UK’s low-level radioactive waste has taken place at the Low Level Waste Repository near Drigg in Cumbria. Mike Pigott, Nuclear Waste Services’ Director of Sites and Operations explains how it is shaping the future of nuclear waste management
AS DIRECTOR OF SITES AND Operations at the UK’s Nuclear Waste Services, Mike Pigott has a pivotal role, leading, directing, and controlling all activities on the nuclear-licensed Low Level Waste Repository in Cumbria. He oversees the site’s safety, environmental compliance, and the critical role of responsible stewardship, making sure the site meets legal obligations and its moral duty to the environment and the community. “In my role, I wear many hats. I oversee Low Level Waste operations, manage infrastructure and facilities, care for our assets, and drive repository development such as our capping operations commitment to dispose of our waste inventory under its final engineered cap,” he says, emphasising the temporary nature of the role as leader of a very long-term waste management operation. “My commitment to running a safe and efficient site extends far beyond the present. This site will continue long after I’m gone, long after my successor’s gone, and long after their successor’s gone. That’s where responsible stewardship comes in. I’m a temporary custodian with a legal and moral obligation to leave the site even better than I found it. Then my successor can take what I leave behind and improve it again. We want to create a chain of continuous improvement on our journey to dispose of the nation’s low level radioactive waste in the safest way possible, Pigott says.
This philosophy of continuous improvement is designed
to support future operations of the site, as well as future challenges and opportunities: “Our focus continues beyond our day-to-day operation. Through continuous improvement and innovation, we work to ensure the site performs at its best now, and that it is prepared for future challenges. With decades of experience behind us, we continue to build the confidence of our key stakeholders to demonstrate our ability as an organisation to safely manage and dispose of radioactive waste, and therefore reinforce the foundation on which we will be trusted as an organisation to develop and operate a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF),” says Pigott. He also points out the collegiate nature of such a role.
“I couldn’t do it alone,” he says, adding: “I have a team of dedicated professionals in security, environmental compliance, technical and engineering, safety and more, who make it possible to do what I need to do. Together we build and maintain relationships with the local community, monitor impact on native wildlife and oversee a critical part of our infrastructure, a railway siding. From managing waste containers, to conditioning waste and disposal, maintaining security on site, and ensuring the smooth operation of critical facilities on site, every member of the team plays a pivotal and varied role.”
Above: The Low Level Waste Repository near Drigg in Cumbria 20 | December 2023 |
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