NDA sites have wastes which are not suitable for treatment in existing processing plants (or those currently planned at a detailed level). These wastes can be referred to as ‘problematic wastes’. Currently, all nuclear Site Licence Companies and non-NDA estate radioactive waste generating organisations manage their own problematic radioactive wastes to fit with their own Lifetime Plans and business plans. Collaboration between waste producers, on technical issues, has improved in recent years, but there may be a potential to introduce further efficiencies when considering waste management across the nuclear industry as a whole. If an estate wide strategy for problematic radioactive waste is developed in the near-term, there is a potential to not only save time and money on the treatment of these wastes, there is also a potential to remove these activities from the site critical path, bringing further significant savings and earlier solutions. To manage problematic radioactive waste efficiently at a UK level, a detailed inventory would be beneficial. To date, a UK inventory of problematic radioactive waste has been compiled using the best available information. However, it is known that current inventory information for problematic radioactive waste at waste producer sites is subject to uncertainty. Generally, the UK Radioactive Waste Inventory (UKRWI) provides some indicators of problematic radioactive waste, but does not provide detail. Although desirable and likely to be needed in the future, a more accurate inventory is not necessary for this stage of strategy development. For subsequent more detailed stages of strategy development, a greater understanding of the inventory including the timing of arising of the problematic radioactive waste will need to be known. For example, if problematic radioactive waste at one site only arises 50 years after arising at another site, a common management process is unlikely. At this stage of strategy development we will not screen out options which may later be screened out due to a big difference in time of arising.”
NDA 30th Sept 2016 read more »