Intermediate level waste management

The UK radwaste policy calls for intermediate level solid wastes to be disposed of as soon as possible to avoid the provision of costly and expensive storage facilities. Two sites are being considered at present for selection for a UK national repository which is expected to be operational by around 2005. This paper provides an overview of the intermediate level waste position at Sellafield and of the facilities, both existing and planned, required to deal with those wastes. In terms of composition solid intermediate level waste is diverse in nature comprising fuel cladding, sludges and other miscellaneous items. A waste cementation plant to encapsulate the arisings from Magnox reprocessing is in operation. Further encapsulation facilities to treat oxide fuel wastes and the sludges from liquid effluent treatment plants are under construction. Front end design work is in progress to establish the requirements for retrieval and treatment of stored wastes and to identify all the facilities required as part of the overall waste management strategy