New standardised container initiative to provide safety and cost benefits for generations to come
A major joint initiative to develop standardised radioactive waste container design and procurement across the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) estate is expected to produce significant long-term and wide-ranging safety, operational, strategic and cost benefits.
A Standard Waste Container Catalogue (SWCC) developed collaboratively by Sellafield Ltd and Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), defines for the first time a suite of approved container designs to satisfy the needs of waste across differing radioactivity levels.
A standardised approach to containers ensures compatibility with eventual geological disposal, ensuring that packaging produced today will remain suitable for future disposal conditions, avoiding possible complex repackaging operations.
Cross-site collaboration will be encouraged to look at the potential for containers to be used more easily between facilities, utilising common handling equipment and procedures where possible.
The catalogue is not seen as an immediate solution to all current container issues faced by site operators but rather part of a long-term strategy enabling more efficient and cost-effective waste management well into the future.
The catalogue will be governed by the Sellafield-led Waste Container Management Body (WCMB) who will review any requests for new inclusions.
Dr James McKinney, NDA Chief Strategist for Integrated Waste Management, said: “This initiative marks a major step forward in how radioactive waste is managed across our sites and an example of how our strategy development work has resulted in transformational change.
“It also clearly demonstrates how NDA group collaboration is delivering benefits for the whole estate.
“By standardising container design now, we are helping to reduce long‑term costs and ensuring the waste we package today remains suitable for long term interim storage and onward management. Well done to all those involved”
Rob Miller, Head of Manufactured Products at Sellafield, said:
“The Standard Waste Container Catalogue is a significant step forward for the NDA group and the manufacturing supply chain.
It creates a single, consistent set of waste container designs that will reduce duplication, improve value for money, and streamline the procurement and manufacture of containers across all organisations.
The development of this catalogue together with the formation of the Waste Container Management Body stands as a strong example of collaboration across the entire NDA group, using expertise from areas of the NDA group to deliver a shared solution.”
Emma Tallantire, NWS Packaging Lead, said:
“The catalogue will provide visibility of all available packages, encompassing both Low Level Waste and Intermediate Level Waste providing benefits around economies of scale and prevention of package proliferation, resulting in cost savings to the estate.”
Before the launch of the NDA group-wide approach, radioactive waste containers were often designed and developed by individual Site Licence Companies (SLCs) within the estate, tailored to support specific waste streams, resulting in multiple bespoke container designs.
Standardisation of container designs and a coordinated approach to managing demand will lead to longer term efficiencies within the supply chain.