Waste Dump

In line with UK Government policy, some categories of nuclear waste will be disposed of in a deep underground facility in the UK. The search for such a site began in earnest in the late 1980's with waste agency NIREX (Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive) eventually focusing their attention at a site near Sellafield. The proposed facility, in volcanic rock around 900 metres underground, was to be sited adjacent to the Lake District National Park boundary near the village of Gosforth.

After five years of extensive surface research and the sinking of a number of deep geological boreholes around the Sellafield area, NIREX concluded that they would need to construct an underground rock characterisation facility (RCF) to properly understand the host rock and the underground water flow.

One of the Nirex drilling rigs close to Sellafield.

Information provided by NIREX on the research already completed showed the site to have poor potential, yet regardless of this they applied to construct the RCF. After a public inquiry, the inquiry inspector concluded that the site was unsuitable and that the investigations should be moved to more promising sites elsewhere in the UK. The Government agreed and the NIREX RCF application was rejected.

Despite this setback, and with mounting volumes of nuclear waste requiring disposal, Government policy remains in favour of deep disposal. However the numerous shortcomings in site selection procedures and the speed and secrecy in which much of the NIREX research programme was carried out, has led to a detailed reappraisal by Government of how the policy should be implemented. It is now unlikely that any deep repository will be available in the UK until 2030 at the very earliest.

A majority of wastes to be disposed of underground in the UK are produced at Sellafield as a result of BNFL's reprocessing operations. They include the liquid High Level Wastes (HLW) once they have been vitrified in a glass matrix and sealed in stainless steel containers, and the Intermediate Level Wastes (ILW), including plutonium contaminated wastes. The ILW is encapsulated with cement and stored in drums at Sellafield. Solid Low Level Wastes (LLW) are disposed of at BNFL's Drigg licensed site, south of Sellafield. whilst liquid LLW is pumped into the Irish Sea and gaseous LLW discharged to atmosphere via the many stacks on the Sellafield site.