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

NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED6.3.4 Non-Radioactive Discharges6.3.4.1 Liquid Waste Discharges281. Non-radioactive liquid discharges consist mainly of water and include non-radioactivetrade effluent, foul effluent, surface water and treated WSA groundwater. Trade effluent andfoul effluent are pumped via the public sewer to Didcot and treated prior to discharge to theRiver Thames. By discharging trade and foul effluent via the sewer, rather than directly tothe River Thames, means that there is less environmental impact to the river as thetreatment process improves the quality of effluent.282. Surface water is discharged to the Lydebank Brook. Volumes depend on rainfalltherefore predictions of future estimates cannot be made. Groundwater from the WSA istreated through the WSA Groundwater Containment Plant before being returned to theaquifer under an authorised discharge consent, see section 4.4.2. Volumes treated andtherefore discharged depend on the level of the water table and so cannot be predicted.6.3.4.2 Gaseous Discharges283. Non-radioactive gaseous discharges at Harwell are predominantly associated withheating, and do not include any proscribed substances that require permits under EPR2010.Carbon dioxide is reported under the Nuclear Sector Plan.6.4 Waste Disposal and Transfer Routes284. Permitted Radioactive Waste Disposal Types and Disposal Routes for Harwell aretabulated in Annex 2. See section 4.5.3 for interactions with other site or organisations.285. A contract is in place between RSRL and LLW Repository Ltd for the disposal of LLW atthe LLWR. The contract also provides for treatment services such as supercompaction,metal treatment and incineration, as well as disposal to Permitted landfills. The contractwas renewed in April 2012.286. Supercompactable LLW is generally transferred to Inutec on the Winfrith site forsupercompaction. RSRL has a separate contract with Inutec covering supercompactableLLW from Winfrith and Harwell sites.6.5 Tenant and Third Party Waste287. Some wastes are currently stored at Harwell on behalf of their owners or belong totenants on the site. These do not feature in the current LTP baseline because they are notNDA liabilities. There is a risk to the Harwell strategy that the waste owners could walkaway from their responsibilities and leave Harwell to manage the processing and disposal ofthe wastes at additional cost to the NDA.288. Reviss used to lease a storage pond for its cobalt-60 business. This operation hastransferred off-site and the facility will be decommissioned as part of the RSRL lifetime plan.289. GE Healthcare owned over 100 concrete lined drums most of which are stored in theHarwell Concrete Lined Drum store. Liability for these drums transferred to NDA via acontract signed in 2011. These drums will be included in the programme of NM transfers toSellafield.RSRL IWS (Issue 5 – October 2012)80