Technical program to characterise the near field of a low level waste repository

Low Level Solid Waste (LLW), generated within the UK nuclear and radiochemical industries is disposed of at the Drigg Site in Cumbria. The disposal practices on the site have been continually reviewed and, in addition to improvements to the trench area. This vault, volume ca 180,000 m3, accepts containerized waste, emplaced in the vault. A series of further improvements are under consideration for treating the waste in the vault, including supercompaction and grouting of the compacts in a suitable container. The operation of the site and the choice of disposal options is supported by a technical program that consists of four major components: engineering studies; near field studies; far field studies; and radiological studies. This paper describes the program of work carried out under the near field studies and presents some of the results of these studies