The UK’s Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) has published Areas of Focus in the search to find a suitable site and a willing community to host a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF). The areas are within the three communities currently involved in the process, in England’s Mid Copeland and South Copeland in Cumbria, and in East Lincolnshire.
The Areas of Focus will enable NWS to focus more in-depth studies and investigations to help experts understand and consider the potential for an area to safely and securely host a GDF. They have been identified using a range of information, such as geological data, areas of environmental protection, and consideration of built up areas.
The identification of Areas of Focus does not mean a GDF will be sited in these areas. Construction will only start when a suitable site is identified, a potential host community has confirmed its willingness to host the facility, and all the necessary consents and permits have been obtained.
Corhyn Parr, Chief Executive Officer at NWS, said: “NWS is delivering a GDF as the safe, secure, and long-term solution for the most hazardous radioactive waste. We are making real progress and establishing these Areas of Focus will help direct our investigations to help us determine the potential suitability of a specific area, with on-the ground surveys, further desk studies and engagement with landowners.
“A GDF requires a suitable site and willing community and will only be developed when both are in place. We will continue our engagement with local people and stakeholders, and will be holding events in local communities to talk about what this means for each area.”
In the search for a suitable site for a GDF, three key elements are needed with the right sub-surface geological environment deep underground, a suitable surface location, and the ability to connect the two areas with accessways.
Identifying these areas enables NWS to focus site evaluation studies, such as transport and environmental surveys, and the site characterisation work needed to consider the potential for an area to safely host a GDF.
A GDF is the safe and secure solution for the disposal of the UK’s most radioactive waste. It is one of the largest environmental protection programmes the UK has ever seen and ensures the cost and burden or keeping the waste safe is removed from future generations.
There are more than 20 countries at different stages of GDF consideration and development around the globe, with Finland’s GDF expected to start operating before the end of the decade. Swedish and French facilities are on track for the 2030s and Switzerland’s set for the 2050s.
About a Geological Disposal Facility:
A GDF is an underground facility designed to safely and securely dispose of radioactive waste deep underground. It is made up of surface facilities, accessways, highly engineered vaults and tunnels, housed in suitable geology, to protect people and the environment.
While radioactive waste can be safely stored above ground, as it is today, this is not a permanent solution. These facilities require ongoing maintenance and protection from harm at the surface and will need to be rebuilt and the waste within them repackaged, given the very long timescales.
By working with the natural, long-term protection of a stable geological environment, a GDF ensures we remove the burden from future generations of having to keep the waste safe and secure in above ground storage facilities for many thousands of years. GDFs are internationally recognised by governments, technical experts, and scientists as the best solution for the safe, permanent disposal of our most hazardous radioactive waste
Countries such as Finland, Sweden, France, Switzerland, and Canada are already making great progress in delivering their own facilities.
A GDF will only be built where we have a suitable site and the support of a willing community. NWS is now engaged with three communities across England with two Community Partnerships in Cumberland, Mid-Copeland and South-Copeland, and one in Lincolnshire around Theddlethorpe.
The Low Level Waste Repository in Cumbria is the UK’s primary LLW disposal facility. This nuclear licensed site enables the safe, secure, and environmentally compliant effective management and disposal of the UK’s radioactive low level waste.
In the last decade low level and intermediate level waste has been dealt with more sustainably. Alternative options such as re-use, recycling, decontamination, incineration, and specialised landfill, (for waste with the very lowest levels of radioactivity), are now preferred with disposal seen as a last resort.
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