The Low Level Waste Repository is the UK's central long-term store for low-level radioactive waste located on the West Cumbrian coast near Drigg village and opened in 1959. It is a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Function

The site stores low level

radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear ...

from Sellafield, MoD sites, nuclear power stations, hospitals, universities, medical companies and the oil industry. The site, which was opened in 1959 by the

United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). T ...

, covers about on the site of the former

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(ROF Drigg).

Ownership and management

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), who owned LLWR at the time, announced in March 2008 that UK Nuclear Waste Management Ltd (a consortium led by the Washington Division of

URS Corporation URS Corporation (formerly United Research Services) was an engineering, design, and construction firm and a U.S. federal government contractor. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, URS was a full-service, global organization with office ...

and including Studsvik UK, AREVA-NC and Serco Assurance) had been awarded the contract for the management and operation of the Low Level Waste Repository. This arrangement ceased when the LLWR was brought back under direct public management when it became a subsidiary of the NDA in July 2021. In 2022 LLWR was merged with the NDA's Integrated Waste Management Programme to form a division called Nuclear Waste Services.

Continued use

In 1988, a new system was introduced placing waste in containers rather than clay trenches later covered with stone and soil. In early 2008,

Cumbria County Council Cumbria County Council was the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Cumbria in the North West of England. Established in April 1974, following its first elections held the previous year, it was an elected local government body re ...

granted permission for a new vault, Vault 9, to be built to accommodate about 700

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

steel containers per year and be able to hold 5,500 ISO steel containers in total, giving an operational life of about eight years. The vault opened for use in 2010. In 2015, a report from the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

acknowledged that the site would be disrupted in the future by

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

and flooding, and placed requirements on LLWR Ltd to maintain a programme of coastal monitoring and to keep up-to-date with research and development on the long-term

effects of climate change Effects of climate change are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment and human societies. Changes to the climate system include an Instrumental temperature record, overall warming trend, Effects of climate change on the ...

.Environment Agency, Decision Document: Low Level Waste Repository, October 2015 In 2023, Nuclear Waste Services started capping and securing full trenches and vaults in preparation for permanent closure, a process that will take five years. A 10 metre thick membrane, the Southern Trench Cap Interim Membrane (STIM), will cover the old trenches to protect the waste for up to 100 years.

References

External links

* {{coord, 54, 22, 46, N, 3, 27, 25, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Radioactive waste repositories Buildings and structures in Cumbria Nuclear technology in the United Kingdom