Packaging of Radioactive Waste in the United Kingdom for Disposal at the Deep Repository

Abstract

UK Nirex Ltd is responsible for developing a deep repository for the safe disposal of intermediate and low level radioactive wastes (ILW and LLW), and is concentrating its investigations on Sellafield as a potential location. Nirex, in cooperation with the producers of radioactive waste, has developed a range of standard containers suitable for the wide variety of wastes arising and predicted to arise in the future. The standard range includes unshielded containers, such as the 500 litre drum and 3 m3 box as well as shielded containers such as the 4 m box for lLW and the 4 ma box for LLW. The unshielded containers require to be packaged into re-usable shielded containers for transport whereas the shielded containers form transport packages in their own right. Waste Package Specifications have been produced for each of the standard packages and these provide the essential link between waste package design and the design of the repository. Nirex will eventually be producing Conditions for Acceptance but these cannot be defined until the authorisation and other regulatory requirements are known. Until that time, the Waste Package Specifications provide a sound basis for the packaging of waste. Detailed information on stocks and predicted future arisings of waste are published in the United Kingdom Radioactive Waste Inventory. The information provided in the Inventory is used by Nirex to determine the volume of waste which will require disposal at the respository. Disposal volumes ranging from 400,000 m3 to 2,000,000 m3 are currently being considered. Detailed data available in the Inventory are used to classify the waste for transport and to estimate the numbers and types of packages requiring transport and disposal.