UK radioactive waste inventory
Preparation of waste inventory since 1987
Client
UK Nirex Ltd / DEFRA
Project
Preparation of UK radioactive waste inventory, regular update since 1987, covering all past, present and future wastes.
Services Provided
See below
Execution Period
1987 - present
Project Description
A national inventory of radioactive wastes has been in existence in the United Kingdom since 1983. In 1987, UK Nirex Ltd. and the Department of the Environment awarded the Pöyry Energy business group the contract for managing the inventory and establishing it on a computer database, for the period 1987 to 1988.
This contract was renewed for the subsequent inventories in 1989, 1991, 1994, 1998 and 2001. The Pöyry Energy business group tendered successfully for the latest inventory, which refers to the situation in 2004.
Particular Services
The project has three main objectives:
- Collection of waste stream data from each waste producer, and the subsequent data verification.
- Transfer of the data to a relational computer database (ORACLE & ACCESS), thus allowing easy retrieval for sorting and processing.
- Production of annual reports (some 4000 pages) which describe the stocks and future arisings, as well as the details of each waste stream (physical and chemical characteristics and radionuclide content). The reports are also published on CD-ROM.
The inventory covers all producers: reactor operations, reprocessing, fuel fabrication, medical, industrial and research. Both operational and decommissioning wastes are considered, for existing and for prospective plants. The inventory is used to perform studies in support of policy decisions, transport and disposal assessments (cost, safety, logistics). The advantages of holding the information in a computer database are numerous: rapid access, sorting and processing, coupled with the ability to use the data as input to computer codes e.g. for decay or shielding calculations.
The award of the latest inventory to the Pöyry Energy business group also means the continuation of so-called "Fast Lane" tasks for the client Nirex. This service is run by a multi-disciplined specialist team which has considerable and wide-ranging experience in radioactive waste management. The scope of the consultancy service covers all aspects of radioactive waste characterisation and management including consideration of the following:
- Current and future waste arisings.
- Radionuclide content of wastes.
- Chemical composition and properties of wastes.
- Physical composition and properties of wastes.
- Packaging and transport of wastes.
- Shielding requirements and heat output.
Tasks normally relate to the current UK Radioactive Waste Inventory but have also involved analysis of information from the literature and from direct contact with the waste producers. Tasks include provision of briefing notes, data compilations, data assessments and comparisons, sensitivity studies, data reviews and data reports. |
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