What is the long-term waste management solution - Low level waste (LLW)
LLW Repository in Cumbria
Methods for disposing of LLW in near-surface facilities already exist. However, the potential capacity of the existing national LLW repository in Cumbria (the LLWR) is well below the forecast volume of LLW that must be dealt with in the future, and there is a diminishing availability of landfill sites for the lower activity LLW.
It was for these reasons that the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations carried out a review of solid LLW policy. In 2007 a new policy was announced that sets out a more flexible approach for managing solid LLW in the long-term [Policy for the long-term management of solid low level waste in the United Kingdom, 2007]. UK-wide strategies for managing LLW from the nuclear industry and from the non-nuclear sector will be developed in conjunction with the NDA.
Under the Energy Act 2004, the NDA is responsible for developing a strategy and plans for LLW management and disposal. The NDA must:
- develop a plan for the optimal use of the LLWR, taking into account the ongoing regulatory review of the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (RSA93) authorisation of the site and, in light of this, uncertainty about its future capacity;
- assess the extent to which other LLW disposal options might be employed to manage the waste arisings from them; and
- assess if, and at what point in the future, a replacement, or replacements, for the LLWR might be required and planned for.
In considering the use of the LLWR and any replacement, either as national, regional or local facilities, the NDA should take into account potential need for use of these facilities by other nuclear and non-nuclear industry LLW managers. The NDA will also support Government in developing and maintaining a UK wide strategy for waste arising from the non-nuclear industry, to help ensure that the strategies for the nuclear and non-nuclear sectors are suitably integrated.
The small fraction of solid LLW that cannot be disposed of in near-surface facilities is taken into consideration when developing disposal option for ILW and HLW (go to What is the long-term solution - Higher activity waste).
UK policies for the management of LLW are accessible from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) web site, www.defra.gov.uk. Further information on the development of the LLW management strategy by NDA is available from the NDA website, www.nda.gov.uk.
