Control and tracking arrangements for solid low-level waste disposals to the UK Drigg disposal site

The Drigg disposal site has been the principal disposal site for solid low-level radioactive wastes (LLW) in the United Kingdom since 1959. It is situated on the Cumbrian coast, some six kilometers to the south of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site. The Drigg site receives LLW from a wide range of sources including nuclear power generation, nuclear fuel cycle activities, defense activities, isotope manufacture, universities, hospitals, general industry and clean-up of contaminated sites. This LLW has been disposed of in a series of trenches cut into the underlying clay layer of the site, and, since 1988, also into concrete lined vault. The total volume of LLW disposed of at Drigg is at present in the order of 800,000m3, with disposals currently approximately 25,000m3 per year. British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) owns and operates the Drigg disposal site. To meet operational and regulatory requirements, BNFL needs to ensure the acceptability of the disposed waste and be able to track it from its arising point to its specific disposal location. This paper describes the system that has been developed to meet these requirements