RSRL Integrated Waste Strategy - Issue 5- Oct 2012.pdf

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKEDWinfrith sites in support of the UK Civil nuclear power programme. These wastes arecurrently stored on the Harwell site. An agreement has been reached to transfer this NM toSellafield for onward processing and long-term storage pending final disposal to a futureGeological Disposal Facility (GDF). This is in line with current NDA Strategy (effective April2011) which encourages the optimisation of waste management solutions by using assetsacross the NDA estate.35. The strategy is to convert all remaining historic arisings into a passively safe form by 2023.The current storage locations for many of these wastes need to be emptied beforedecommissioning can commence. Future arisings range from ILW and LLW through tohazardous and non-hazardous exempt (‘out of scope’) waste. These wastes will beproduced during the decommissioning of the reactors, waste management facilities andbuildings containing low or no activity. The previous operations of these facilities andbuildings are relevant to the decommissioning and waste management strategies todecommission the individual facilities.36. The Harwell site strategy is to package all ILW into final disposal packages anddecommission all redundant facilities, except for the Shielded Vault Store, the WasteEncapsulation Plant, the new Harwell ILW Store and some facilities in the Solid WasteComplex, by 2032. Much of the site will have been de-licensed and other areas will beready to be de-licensed by the ONR. LA-LLW and HV-VLLW suitable for landfill will havebeen transferred to an off-site disposal facility and the WSA Groundwater Containment Plantoperations will have ceased.37. By the Final End State in 2050, all the ILW will have been transferred to the GeologicalDisposal Facility (GDF), the stores and remaining facilities in the Solid Waste Complex willhave been decommissioned, all redundant buildings demolished and all the remaining landremediated and de-licensed38. RSRL has developed the current LTP baseline which includes the strategy and strategicassumptions for the Harwell site. The resulting key decommissioning milestones are:MilestoneKey MilestoneCompletion DateLETP Buildings and Tanks decommissioned 2016Radiochemical Building decommissioned 2029Active Handling Facility decommissioned 2027MTRs Decommissioned 2032Solid Waste Complex decommissioned 2049Final End State (whole site delicensed) 20502.1.2 Winfrith39. In 1957 Winfrith carried out research and development into electricity generation fromnuclear power. Eight reactors were operational on the site including the Steam GeneratingHeavy Water Reactor (SGHWR), the DRAGON and ZEBRA reactors, and five other zeroenergy and low power reactors. The site also had nuclear fuel manufacture andexamination facilities, plutonium laboratories, nuclear waste treatment and storage facilities,various experimental laboratories, effluent treatment facilities and a sea discharge pipeline,together with offices and workshops.RSRL IWS (Issue 5 – October 2012)14