We’ve reached the last instalment of our Strategy Series! Over the course of the last few months, we’ve dissected our corporate strategy with some of our best experts, and as we step into 2024, we’ve got some exciting plans.
Our Corporate Strategy will help us to move forward in new, innovative ways with a refreshed focus on value and safety. With a newly integrated approach, we are in an even better position to make radioactive waste permanently safe, sooner.
To finish off, we’re speaking to Martin Walkingshaw, Chief Operating Officer, about the final stage of the waste management lifecycle – disposal!
Why do we have radioactive waste to dispose of?
We have a fascinating nuclear history in the UK; Nuclear physicists John Cockroft and Ernest Newton (working under Ernest Rutherford) split the atom in 1932 at Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory, and kickstarted the UK’s journey to pioneer the use of radioactive materials and develop a whole new industry for the ‘nuclear age’.
Ever since then we’ve employed our nuclear technology for a range of purposes; In 1956 Calder Hall began operating as a full-scale nuclear power station and the UK has possessed an independent nuclear deterrent for over 60 years. It’s worth reflecting that every Government elected since WW2 has maintained the nuclear elements of our energy and defence policies and supported the development of nuclear medicine, as well as the use of radioactive materials in a wide range of industries.
I’d suggest that as a society, we’ve really benefited from nuclear advances. But that history, and our continued use of radioactive materials, means we have a growing legacy of waste which we now must make permanently safe. That’s where my role comes in – to close the loop and make sure people are protected now and long into the future.
How does radioactive waste disposal work?
The UK Radioactive Waste Inventory identifies 4,560,000 m3 of radioactive waste. And all of it requires careful management.
But first, we need to understand what we are dealing with. For example, what type of radioactivity is the waste generating and how intense is that radiation? We gain this knowledge from understanding the elements (or ‘radionuclides’) that are present in the waste and their proportion. From this information we can determine how long the waste will stay harmfully radioactive, (remember- radioactivity gradually decays over time) but we also need to understand the other physical and chemical properties of each waste form – e.g. liquid/sludge or solid – and what treatment processes have been used. The non-radioactive (but still hazardous) properties of the waste need to be considered too. Once we understand (or ‘characterise’) the waste fully, we can treat it, appropriately, package it and transport it to be recycled, reused or disposed.
Once characterised and confirmed suitable for disposal, that’s when the waste comes to me! We bring all those factors together to understand the full inventory and find the most suitable disposal route. There are a range of solutions available including our Low Level Waste Repository site and our future Geological Disposal Facility (GDF).
How do we manage our capacity for waste?
The Repository site has been the national disposal facility since 1959, ensuring that the UK’s low level waste is safely and permanently disposed of in a way that protects people and the environment. In other words, we know what we’re doing, and we’ve been doing it for a very long time.
That includes planning for the future. We’re always looking at treatment or other alternatives to disposal for waste that doesn’t need the protection of an engineered facility like ours. We’ve also started work on installation of the final closure engineering (capping) of historical disposal areas, and we’re planning the construction of future vaults to accommodate the waste that will arise over the next century.
Our future GDF deals with higher activity waste, and we are currently engaging with potential host communities to establish where it should be built. A key consideration for the GDF’s design is that it must have the capacity to deal with the ‘inventory for disposal’ that has been identified. Although the higher activity waste category is much smaller in volume than the waste we deal with at the Repository, it requires the additional protection provided by deep disposal in a suitable geology, and a portion of the waste is heat generating so we need to take that into account.
Managing radioactive waste safely is an effort that continues over multiple generations; We are the current custodians of these facilities, with a moral obligation to leave our sites better than we found them so our successors can take what we have done and improve it again. That way, we can create a chain of continuous improvement on our journey to dispose of our radioactive waste in the safest way possible.
What does 'capping' at the Repository site involve?
We’ve currently got close to a million cubic metres of low level waste permanently disposed of at the site. Whilst it is already safe, putting an engineered ‘cap’ over the top of it is an essential component of our Environmental Safety Case, it enables us to demonstrate that we meet all the requirements placed on us by our regulators, and that the site will be safe long after we’re gone. The cap will be made of multiple layers of strong impermeable materials to form the final barrier to protect the waste, while its radioactive content gradually reduces through the process of radioactive decay. The land above the cap will look like a natural feature in the landscape.
What is a Geological Disposal Facility?
The concept of using multiple layers or barriers also forms key part of the science behind geological disposal. A GDF is made up of a series of highly engineered vaults and tunnels between 200 and 1,000 metres below ground in a suitable rock formation. Combined with engineered barriers, this multi-barrier approach will protect the environment by keeping the waste isolated from the surface while the radioactivity naturally reduces to safe levels.
It’s a complex programme that will certainly take time to find the right location, build the facility and get it running. The findings from our site evaluation work will inform our decisions, for approval by UK Government, about the site or sites to be taken forward into the phase known as ‘site characterisation’. This involves understanding the properties of the geology with detailed investigations such as the drilling of deep boreholes. We also have to consider logistics and transport, and potential local and environmental impacts. This isn’t something we can rush. Our next major milestone for the programme is to start deep sub-surface borehole investigations. You can learn more about GDFs here.
How do you make sure disposal is safe?
We also have a responsibility to demonstrate our disposal facilities are safe, not just to the public and the Government who fund the work but to the independent safety, security and environmental regulators, who we work with closely. The research we do internationally and in the UK is vital to support the evidence backed safety cases for all the disciplines of work across NWS.
At our Repository site we conduct extensive environmental surveys on, around and underneath the site, sampling the groundwater, soil, plants, vegetation and local produce. We also monitor radiation exposure to our workforce and take long term dose readings at the site boundary.
For the GDF and the Repository, the regulators need to be sure our proposals are safe in order for us to hold the licences and permits we need to build and operate them. We also need to create and maintain the Environmental, Nuclear and Operational Safety Cases that set out our models, all the pathways of possible exposure and the environmental impact of all our projects.
Once closed, our disposal facilities are designed to contain and isolate radioactivity underground by combining the use of engineered and natural geological barriers to prevent radioactivity from reaching the surface. This is known as passive safety and removes the need for human intervention while the radioactivity decays, keeping future generations safe.
That’s the end of our Strategy Series! To learn more, check out some of the other blogs in the series or read our full corporate strategy.
]]>I was recently asked to share my experience of joining the nuclear industry as part of a new first-of-a-kind collaboration across all parts of the sector. Destination Nuclear is a campaign that’s bringing together government and private companies to help attract and recruit more people to fill skills gaps.
Whether it’s supporting national defence, operating existing power stations, building new ones or delivering the nationally important work of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) group to decommission the UK’s earliest facilities, there’s a significant amount of work to be delivered in the decades ahead and that means more opportunities for a career in nuclear. In fact, it’s estimated that as many as 40,000 new roles will be available in the sector by 2030.
If you’re on a train, listening to commercial radio or using social media over the next few weeks, you’ll probably see or hear the new campaign. Destination Nuclear’s message is simple – whatever you do, you can do nuclear.
The industry has a proven track record of investing in personal development and thousands of careers have started in nuclear since the 1940s and 1950s. The NDA group alone invests more than £45 million each year in apprentice, graduate and PhD programmes. More than 1,000 people are following early career programmes and this year will see the intake of NDA group graduates double from 2023, with up to 120 new recruits joining us in September.
However this new campaign is aimed at a different audience - people like me. Those further into their career, with experience working elsewhere and ready to try something different.
I spent 30 successful years in the NHS as an administrator but I needed a new challenge when a safety case advisory role came up at Sellafield. Safety cases exist for all of our projects and facilities to ensure we think though the right way of doing things and maintain high standards of nuclear safety and radioactive waste management. At first, I was anxious about my lack of experience, but the many years I’d spent working in patient care and as a child protection secretary have proved to be advantageous.
Sellafield and the wider NDA group is a major employer in West Cumbria and known locally, and potentially further afield, for providing good career opportunities. We have a unique and proud history, from the development of the UK nuclear industry to now employing more than 11,000 people on a 100-year project to transform the site for all generations that follow. We’re setting standards in high-hazard reduction and I’m hugely proud to be part of that.
Mastering nuclear safety cases made for a steep learning curve, but being entrusted with such an important job was a wonderful feeling and I’ve since progressed and taken on different roles. Today I have more responsibility and help train the next generation of nuclear industry recruits.
While I’ve taken on technical challenges, it’s a common myth that you have to be technically minded to work in the nuclear industry. There are more than 900 different types of role across the NDA group and we have opportunities from nuclear scientists to train drivers and environmental protectors to IT specialists. Some of the most in demand skills are in business areas such as procurement as well as project and programme management.
There’s so much opportunity in the nuclear sector that I really hope this new campaign will encourage more people to look at what is available and consider a future in nuclear.
Read Dianne’s story: Case Study Dianne Roberts (destinationnuclear.com)
A new website launched by the NDA group also brings together in one place all of the career opportunities available around the group to help sustainably, safely and securely decommission the UK’s nuclear facilities and provide specialist waste and transport capabilities. Find out more: ndagroup.careers
]]>The first step is to write an application that sells you and your skills - here are our 5 top tips:
Do your research – use our Sellafield Ltd careers website and our Sellafield Ltd GOV website to read through our range of apprenticeship schemes, and to learn more about Sellafield Ltd and our work on the Sellafield site.
This tip always seems like a common-sense thing to do when filling out any application form, but it often gets overlooked when a deadline for applications is close. Trust us, it does help you to focus and makes every application you make individual to you.
Well-researched answers show initiative and enthusiasm and could help you when it comes to your interview.
Make sure you leave enough time to sit down and complete your form – seems an easy one but a deadline can creep up on you, and it always takes longer than you think to complete. We need a lot of information from you that you might not have to hand straight away.
Make your application specific to the apprenticeship scheme you're applying for. Don’t be tempted to copy and paste the same answers for every application.
A lot of our schemes require different personal strengths, tell us about what yours are – this could be something you’re good at and enjoy doing. What strengths can you bring to the scheme(s) you’re applying for?
It's all in the details!
Firstly, give us as much relevant detail as you can in your application so that we can get to know you better.
Secondly, if the closing deadline is fast approaching, rushing your application can lead to mistakes and errors.
Our biggest tips to submitting an application that sells you and is error free is to draft your application offline in a programme like Microsoft word. Then have a trusted friend or family member to read it for you. They might be able to suggest other details you can include about yourself and could pick up any spelling mistakes that spellcheck missed.
Before you press submit, check, double check and triple check your application.
A lot of our schemes are very popular and can attract hundreds of applicants.
To help your application stand out, think about how you can tell us about how your skills and experience relate to the specific scheme you're applying for. This might include work experience, school projects etc. But also consider all of the projects and activities you've been involved with (inside and outside of education), every experience will have helped you develop skills so tell us about them.
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“I don’t have a degree.”
Adrienne Kelbie, Independent Chair of Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), had what many would consider an unconventional start in the world of nuclear. Working as an administrative temp, she worked her way through varied roles that taught her career skills like financial and project management, governance and operational delivery, arriving as Chief Executive Officer for the Office of Nuclear Regulation in 2016.
I was taught that you can do anything with the right mindset and hard work. Just as some roles require a degree, there are many which do not. And I encourage people to consider apprenticeships as being as a valid a route to great roles as degrees. Because there are lots of people, like me, who take a less traditional career – so long as they have mindset that is truly about lifelong learning. And there is more choice than ever before, for apprentices, to get into a career that may twist and turn through many fulfilling opportunities, as mine has.
Apprentices can fill the nuclear skills gap.
The nuclear industry is growing. The UK Radioactive Waste Inventory has 4,560,000 m3 of radioactive waste. And all of it requires careful management. Nuclear Waste Services’ (NWS) vision and mission is vitally important to the UK today and for future generations. We’re here to make nuclear waste permanently safe, sooner, and our mission is to become the ‘one-stop shop’ for the management of nuclear waste in the UK.
The UK has been producing and managing nuclear waste for many decades and will continue to do so for many more. The ability to safely manage and dispose of nuclear waste today and for future generations is crucial.
That’s why the Nuclear Skills Strategy Group (NSSG) was set up. It brings together major employers from across the nuclear industry to look at the skills we need to grow. While there are a wide range of roles from engineering and science to project management and finance, it’s clear there will be a future skills shortage as more jobs open up.
We find it especially difficult to recruit for programme and project management. A lot of people think you need to be a scientist to work in nuclear, but we don’t all wear a lab coat to work. And you needn’t even be an engineer – much as they are the lifeblood of our mission. Rather, there is a place for everyone because we all ultimately contribute to that mission, whether in an admin role, or as a CEO.
The NSSG forecasts a 49% growth in the nuclear sector by 2030, on top of the 80,000 workforce already employed . So now, more than ever before, is where there is a demand and need for apprenticeships. Each year the NDA invests over £45 million in apprentice and graduate development , across over 1,000 colleagues in our early careers programme.
It’s all about putting people in a role where they can learn on the job and build skills for life. I always encourage our apprentices to ask questions and watch how things really get done. Learn about working with others. Find out how to the kind of colleague that everyone wants to help and work with. The more apprentices – and everyone else! – adopts a way of working that notices this, the better their skills development throughout a career. The relationship skills our apprenticeships develop at this early stage will determine the trajectory of their careers.
…and be a part of something bigger.
Apprentices are vital of the nuclear family. This is why NWS has chosen to commit heavily to our successful and well-established apprenticeship scheme. We help apprentices to learn and develop the lifelong skills they need while surrounded by industry and subject experts. They’re also given tangible opportunities to develop through avenues such as professional training qualifications, community support placements, STEM learning opportunities with local schools and chances to support our experts on business projects.
We’re training a group of highly skilled employees who we want to stay with us and contribute to our legacy of world class waste management, and in turn support the future of new nuclear which can support sustainable energy. We need people of all ages, from different backgrounds, who bring exposure to modern thinking and technology and have a great attitude to learning and working hard.
NWS apprentices tend to achieve long-term positions within the organisation at the end of their apprenticeship.
Our apprentices can choose to become anything. Instead of working on elements of work they’ll never see again, they could be a part of something with an international legacy. And I’m really curious and inspired by what our apprentices of today will do tomorrow. They might just be the group who imagine a solution to some of our biggest challenges!
So, here’s why you should join the nuclear sector
]]>The nuclear sector has ambitious goals like supporting the UK’s journey towards net zero and managing major infrastructure projects like the Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) Programme. These projects stretch across generations. That means we need the right skills and the right people not just now, but throughout a nuclear lifetime, which could be upwards of 100 years.
That’s why our apprenticeships programmes, group graduate schemes and our training programmes are essential. We want to bring young people into the sector, train them and get them out into the workforce. We especially want to see gender balance too, and I want to encourage everyone who feels that working in an engineering-based sector is not for them, to realise that it’s exactly for them – we need diversity to thrive!
We’re driven by making a real difference and making an impact at an international level. We’re also really learning centred with a knowledge sharing culture. We have lots of online learning programmes you can do yourself alongside your apprenticeship. And we’re always upskilling employees with university degrees and leadership programmes to build their lifelong skills. There’s a real generosity of spirit at NWS because our people know it takes a whole family to succeed. Perhaps you’ll join us?
With 65 years of experience in safe radioactive waste disposal, they play a pivotal part in NWS’ commitment to make nuclear waste permanently safe, sooner.
Mike Pigott, Director of Sites and Operations, has a pivotal role, leading, directing, and controlling all activities on the nuclear-licensed site. He oversees the site’s safety, environmental compliance, and the critical role of responsible stewardship, making sure the site meets legal obligations and its moral duty to the environment and the community.
Taking the lead
In my role, I wear many hats. I oversee low level waste operations, manage infrastructure and facilities, care for our assets, and drive repository development such as our capping operations commitment to dispose of our waste inventory under its final engineered cap.
My commitment to running a safe and efficient site extends far beyond the present. This site will continue long after I’m gone, long after my successor’s gone, and long after their successor’s gone. That’s where responsible stewardship comes in. I’m a temporary custodian with a legal and moral obligation to leave the site even better than I found it. Then my successor can take what I leave behind and improve it again. We want to create a chain of continuous improvement on our journey to dispose of the nation’s low level radioactive waste in the safest way possible.
Our focus continues beyond our day-to-day operation. Through continuous improvement and innovation, we work to ensure the site performs at its best now, and that is prepared for future challenges. With decades of experience behind us, we continue to build the confidence of our key stakeholders to demonstrate our ability as an organisation to safely manage and dispose of radioactive waste, and therefore reinforce the foundation on which we will be trusted as an organisation to develop and operate a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF).
But I couldn’t do it alone. I have a team of dedicated professionals in security, environmental compliance, technical and engineering, safety and more, who make it possible to do what I need to do. Together we build and maintain relationships with the local community, monitor impact on native wildlife and oversee a critical part of our infrastructure, a railway siding!
A day in the life
It’s hard to say what a typical day is like for someone working at the repository. It’s incredibly varied and involves a deep sense of responsibility. Typically, we’ll receive containers of waste through our railway. These are checked to make sure we’ve received what we were expecting. The container is then filled with a type of liquid cement called grout. We’ll then dispose of the container in our vaults. We of course work closely with our Waste Management Services team, so that where appropriate, we’re also applying the waste hierarchy. We are treating or using alternate disposal routes where appropriate for waste that doesn’t require the protection of an engineered vault, which also helps to protect our capacity for waste disposal on-site.
From managing waste containers, to conditioning waste and disposal, maintaining security on site, and ensuring the smooth operation of critical facilities on site, every member of the team plays a pivotal and varied role. Take Chris Arthur for example, our dedicated on-site Ecologist. He makes sure our operations are in harmony with the environment and wildlife as we continue to develop and operate the site. He’ll give us the foresight to offset any developments we make.
Connecting with our community
Our site borders the village of Drigg. That means engaging with the community is a crucial part of our mission. We try to give back to the community as much as we can, especially as some of our work may affect them. For example, if a big operation is starting up, I’ll need to speak to locals about the use of their roads to deliver equipment and possible noise issues. We’ll leaflet drop, speak at parish council meetings and give them a place to check in with us. We have a huge spectrum of accountability. That includes safety, but also mitigating the risk of dust and noise pollution.
We know many of our neighbours by name and we like to find new ways to engage with their community projects. Like supporting the Drigg History Club by providing a plaque that memorialised lives lost during WWII at an explosives factory on the original site, which at the time employed most of the village. We also recently supported a local community group to identify an old shipwreck on the nearby coast by helping them get hold of some geographic equipment. It's about building trust and ensuring that our work benefits everyone.
The future of our site
By the successful diversion of waste to be reused, recycled and treated, we’ve protected the disposal capacity for low level radioactive waste for the UK. We’ve built additional capacity too. However, we’re now focussed on capping operations and permanently securing our existing vaults and historic trenches.
But what does capping mean? We’ve currently got half a million cubic meters of low level waste permanently disposed of at the site. Whilst it is extremely safe, putting a cap over the top of it would make it permanently safe, sooner. A long-term programme is now underway to permanently close the existing vaults and adjacent trenches – and initial work on the ground has now begun. The project is a significant scope of work both in terms of scale and complexity. The first stage of the Capping Operations project is now progressing, and will take five years.
The foundation of nuclear waste management
]]>The Repository is pivotal in the UK's nuclear infrastructure and to Nuclear Waste Services. Our 65-year track record demonstrates that we have the track record to safely manage nuclear waste, and to develop and operate a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF). By effectively managing the waste inventory, we've ensured the protection of people and the environment from the hazard that exists with the waste. We know what we are doing.
Our commitment to safety and responsibility is critical in ensuring that we can be trusted with the challenges of the future, today. We are the foundation upon which the future of nuclear waste management rests, and our track record and future legacy speaks volumes.
Thanks to my team and the whole of NWS, we can continue our work to ensure the UK’s nuclear waste is permanently and safely disposed of.
But what exactly is it and what does it aim to do?
Back in 2015, the NDA was challenged to show progress against its extremely complex mission of decommissioning the UK’s earliest nuclear sites. Through a lot of hard work and collaboration with our group colleagues and stakeholders we were able to present progress in a variety of ways. For example, we can now show just how many buildings we’ve demolished, how much fuel has been reprocessed, how much uranium has been produced, how much radioactive waste has been treated and how much land has been delicensed. From having vast amounts of information across our estate that uses different metrics and terminology, we’ve been able to standardise units and language to tell a simpler, more consistent story.
It’s no mean feat and involves hundreds of data sets and expert people to assess and assure them.
But it’s crucial that we have a way of demonstrating just how what we say in our Strategy ultimately translates into the progress we’re making against the mission.
If you’ve seen our Strategy, you’ll know that we use five strategic themes to deliver all the activities needed to achieve our mission. The MPR concentrates on four of those – Spent Fuels, Nuclear Materials, Integrated Waste Management and Site Decommissioning and Remediation. We cover everything from how much spent fuel we have left from reactors and reprocessing, how much plutonium and uranium we have to the various different types of radioactive waste we manage and how many radioactive buildings there are to decommission as well as how much land there is to ultimately delicense.
Each of the four themes are broken down into their key components and further divided into huge milestones we call strategic outcomes. These are the 47 significant steps that once achieved will show we’ve achieved our mission.
This year we can say that we have successfully achieved another four strategic outcomes that relate to the end of reprocessing. It brings our total to eight strategic outcomes completed, but there’s a long way to go.
It’s a mission that will last well into the next century, but the MPR at least gives us an opportunity for a snapshot overview of progress at a point in time. Every year we continue to build a more accurate picture of work that’s still to be completed across our sites. It will keep evolving as uncertainty about our inventory reduces and we begin to include new data that we will become responsible for with the transferral of AGR sites from EDF Energy.
Please watch our animation to help you understand more and take a look at the report itself. In 2020, the NAO included the MPR within its reporting guidance as an example of best practice for showing complex data more simply which we’re really proud of!
]]>As the NDA’s first Director of Socio-Economics, it’s a privilege to work as part of a team committed to working with local partners to help improve, grow and diversify the economies in those communities closest to our sites.
We are working to ensure that beyond the completion of our decommissioning mission we leave a positive and long-lasting legacy for future generations.
Last week, the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford MS officially opened the substation linked to the Morlais tidal energy project on Anglesey. Accompanied by the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin TD (Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland) and Vaughan Gething MS, Minister for the Economy, the event marked the culmination of more than ten years work and a significant milestone for the project and the tidal energy sector in Wales.
NDA and Magnox have worked in partnership with Menter Môn over many years, investing over £1m in the Morlais project so far to help leverage almost £50m of funding from the Welsh government for the delivery of the project and this represents one of our most innovative socio-economic projects to date.
Morlais is the tidal stream energy project created by Menter Môn - a social enterprise working across Wales to deliver a range of regeneration, environmental and cultural projects for the benefit of local communities. Morlais will benefit local communities, the economy and climate by generating clean low carbon electricity using tidal power. The project is phased to protect wildlife and habitats and will be developed gradually to a potential maximum generating capacity of 240MW, creating between 100 and 200 jobs in the process. Profits from the scheme will be reinvested by Menter Môn into other regeneration projects.
Working with our local communities and operating companies, we have developed a portfolio of socio-economic projects across our estate. Every community is different and success is achieved in a painstaking way. There are no silver bullets, but the difference our approach can make is remarkable and the Morlais success demonstrates this.
Working with local partners to help to deliver green growth is an achievement we should take pride in. This creates jobs, supports communities, drives growth and helps us to contribute towards the challenge of Net Zero; it’s sustainability in action.
At it’s heart, Morlais is about people. The NDA didn’t identify or create the project, but by working with local partners we have enabled good ideas to take flight, grow and become reality. As an enabling organisation, we will continue to use our resources to leverage significantly more money than we are able to provide directly, supporting our communities in the creation and realisation of their ambitions.
In a world of growing challenges and rapidly moving pieces, progress can feel like a daunting prospect. But with the right ideas, right partners and right approach; brick by brick, project by project, we can make a positive difference. That’s what we do and that’s what Morlais represents.
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We’re onto the third instalment of our Strategy Series where we dissect our 2030 Corporate Strategy with the help of our Nuclear Waste Service (NWS) experts!
Our Corporate Strategy will help us to move forward in new, innovative ways with a refreshed focus on value and safety. As a newly integrated organisation, we are in an even better position to make nuclear waste permanently safer, sooner. This month, we’re diving into treatment and packaging with Waste Services Director, Dr Craig Ashton.
Why is treatment and packaging so important?
Treatment and packaging are two separate but important parts of the waste lifecycle. Treatment is all about applying the waste management hierarchy – reduce, reuse, recycle. We can treat the waste to either avoid disposing of it or to minimise the volume going for disposal. It's important to reduce the amount of waste we dispose of. Minimising the amount of waste we produce and managing it more effectively not only means we reduce the amount of space taken up in our disposal facilities but also reduces other negative social and environmental impacts across the lifecycle.
Packaging is a very important part of the process. For example, if we’re transporting waste to treatment or waste centres, there are a lot of safety regulations to meet as it travels to its destination. When it safely gets to its destination, it needs to be ready for what happens next whether that be disposal, treatment, or storage. The waste containers need to meet the requirements for the receiving facility also, which can be more complex and are more varied than the transport regulations.
There are a number of different containers for different kinds of waste. For Lower Active Wastes, this has been standardised to meet the acceptance criteria for the downstream facilities. However, there is still work to do to standardise containers for Higher Active Wastes to optimise processing and reduce risks for disposal at a geological disposal facility (GDF). One of our strategic objectives at NWS is to standardise higher active waste containers. The effective treatment and packaging of radioactive waste allows us to achieve our strategic objective to reduce overall waste volumes and maximise package performance.
What kind of waste do you deal with?
In the simplest terms, there are three kinds of radioactive waste – Low Level Waste (LLW), Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) and High Level Waste (HLW). Low Level Waste contains relatively low levels of radioactivity and usually comes from hospitals, universities and the operation and decommissioning of nuclear facilities. The major components of Intermediate Level Wastes are nuclear reactor components, graphite from reactor cores and sludges from the treatment of radioactive liquid wastes. High Level Waste is more radioactive to the point where it generates its own heat and is generally in the form of spent nuclear fuel and vitrified high active waste (HLW is only a relatively small volume of waste at Sellafield). That is why High Level Wastes and some Intermediate Level Wastes can only ever be disposed of in a GDF.
How important is innovation at this stage of the process?
Innovation is a vital part of our work. We are continuously working towards a safer and more efficient process. For example, our innovative ideas over the last decade have helped us divert huge volumes of waste away from LLW disposal, which includes the recycling of more than 90% of lower active metallic waste.
Low level metallic waste can be reduced in size, cleaned and may require smelting. After these processes, 95% of the metal will meet the threshold needed to be classed as ‘clean’. That means it can then be reused and turned into things like car parts! Our 2030 strategy also focuses technologies like thermal treatment for Higher Activity Waste and innovative ways to treat asbestos.
Who do you work with?
We have a fantastic customer team who deal with all our customers whether they be waste generators or suppliers, such as Sellafield and Magnox, and other organisations that generate radioactive waste, including defence, healthcare, and industry. They are a vital point of contact for anybody who uses our One-Stop-Shop of services.
What opportunities does this create?
Within 10 to 15 years, we want to create a group of internationally recognised waste experts who know how to make waste permanently safe, sooner no matter where they fall in the waste hierarchy. That is why we’ve put together a career pathway to take apprentices and graduates through a structured and refined scheme. This year, we became the only nuclear operator to have a pathway accredited by the Chartered Institute of Waste Management!
What significant achievements have you had recently?
We’re diverting huge volumes of waste away from disposal. For example, in 2022-23 we treated 1689te of metallic waste - 98% of which was released for recycling.
We’ve also worked with Magnox Ltd on 500l stainless steel drums at the treatable radioactive waste store at Winfrith – previously designated as ILW, detailed technical analysis has confirmed it falls within the LLW classification, which can be disposed of now, rather than being stored until a GDF is available for disposal.
We’re creating containers fit for the job. Last year we made 57 containers, 766 soft-sided packages, and 5179 Drums - all licensed and certified for radioactive waste. We even innovated one of our drums so it could be used to manage radioactive chemicals.
What’s the next step towards a permanently safer future?
By liaising closely with our colleagues, supply chain and customers we can continue to innovate to reduce the amount of waste being sent for disposal and/or condition it so it can be disposed of sooner, which ultimately reduces risk and saves money for the UK taxpayer.
We’re also working on a number of other “Safer Sooner” projects such as disposing of wastes at the LLWR, which are currently being stored in Sellafield. Once these projects enter the delivery phase, our portfolio and reputation for making waste permanently safe sooner through our One-Stop-Shop will really start to speak for itself.
Read our 2030 Corporate Strategy to learn more - Nuclear Waste Services Corporate Strategy 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
To see how this impacts the next stage of the waste management process, read the next instalment of the Strategy Series with Chief Operating Officer Martin Walkinshaw as we explore disposal!
]]>Daniel, a chartered engineer, is one of our subject matter experts in finite element analysis.
Sellafield Ltd is almost unique in having its own team, working as part of our design engineering capability, who can be called on to look into the future and predict how our structures will perform in extreme situations.
As the business works to clean up the Sellafield site in West Cumbria, it is creating facilities to deal with the waste and stores which will keep that waste safe and secure for decades to come.
Given the nature of what we do, those facilities and stores have to be able to stand up to anything the next century might throw at them.
We use computer models to assess structures. We might get approached by our civil engineers to test out their designs by subjecting them to a once-in-10,000-years earthquake, or to look at how extreme heat over long periods of time might affect the concrete they want to use.
It means we have a unique relationship with the design teams, we’re here to help them solve problems.
When Daniel joined Sellafield 7 years ago as an engineering graduate, he didn’t have any aspirations to take on this role.
I’d done some work on element analysis as part of the graduate scheme and thought it was an interesting topic, particularly the seismic element of it.
Working at Sellafield you have a lot of opportunity to move roles, so I took one. The level of support I got, and the training was fantastic.
Daniel is based at our offices in Warrington but will be at the Sellafield site soon, looking at the defunct heat exchanger still stood in the Calder Hall former power station.
The 400-tonne monster is set to be craned out of the building, and it’s Daniel’s job to make sure the 70-year-old piece of kit will be able to take the pressures of being lifted.
He also recently worked on one of our soon-to-be-built stores on the Sellafield site. These facilities will be where our waste will go until a permanent place can be found for it, so could be expected to last for decades.
Using his skills Daniel was able to show that the stores didn’t need the foundations specified in the original design. Working with the design team he was able to come up with new solutions that used less concrete but maintained safety, making the building more sustainable and cheaper to build.
It’s interesting work – people come to us with a problem and it’s our job to solve it. Plus moving into this role has given me a transferable skills as well as working in a supportive community with a great atmosphere.
'What if’ your next engineering role was with Sellafield Ltd?
For details of our current engineering vacancies, visit our Sellafield Ltd careers website
]]>To mark National Inclusion Week, Corhyn Parr, CEO of Nuclear Waste Services, part of the NDA group, shares her views on the importance of creating inclusive workplaces and the success of our partnership with the Whitehall and Industry Group to develop our Women in Leadership Programme, which is increasing female representation at all levels of our workforce.
At the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) group we are committed to creating great places to work and inclusive environments that enable everyone to perform at their best.
That includes ensuring we have female representation at all levels across our organisations and supporting women in their professional growth.
The NDA is charged, on behalf of Government, with the mission to clean up the UK’s earliest nuclear sites safely, securely and cost effectively and, a key purpose of Nuclear Waste Services is to make nuclear waste permanently safe, sooner. Both of these objectives require a diverse range of roles and a diverse range of people to lead us.
The nuclear industry has the capability to offer fulfilling and rewarding careers to all and by cultivating diverse leadership teams, we aim to enhance overall performance and drive positive outcomes within the sector driving our ambitious plans.
That’s why we worked in partnership with the Whitehall and Industry Group (WIG), a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting collaboration among the sectors, to launch the NDA Women in Leadership Programme.
The programme aims to increase female representation in our workforce, foster the leadership development of more women in senior management positions, and strengthen talent pipelines across our businesses - so far we’ve had nearly 200 participants since we launched in October 2021 and are shortly due to add to this with our Autumn 2023 cohort of another 40 participants.
There are two courses available, the Senior Programme, catering to women with potential for top leadership roles, and the Step Up Step Across Programme, targeting women seeking their first leadership positions.
The objective is to address specific barriers hindering women's career progression, providing a safe and confidential environment where women can openly discuss their challenges, receive support, and be part of a network that inspires and empowers them.
Participants learn through interactive modules, action learning sets, receive individual coaching sessions, and participate in experiential learning exercises.
The programme offers a mix of different views, backgrounds and speakers from other sectors who are grappling with similar issues and challenges, and share insights from a different perspective.
It also equips participants with negotiation skills to seize future career opportunities, emphasising the importance of actively managing their careers rather than solely focusing on the tasks at hand. The programmes provide participants with strategies to influence the key individuals who can further their professional aspirations.
And it’s working, we have seen those who have completed the programme being identified for succession planning and actively encouraged to be part of the NDA Leadership Academy. The NDA Group has committed to achieving 30% representation of women at board and senior leader level by 2025 and it is through programmes like this that will help us reach that goal.
Participants have found it extremely worthwhile, one said: " This module was exactly what I need to help me through the challenges ahead – thinking differently. “I have made really strong connections with those in my action learning set which will prove invaluable as I go forward.”
One participant confirmed she had applied for a new senior role, which she would never have done if she hadn’t been on the programme and had even citied the programme as her reason for applying saying her confidence and ambition had grown to the extent that she now knew she was more than ready for the next level.
Another reflected it had given her the confidence to take the reins on her career and approach a colleague at a directorate level to mentor her as well as setting up a meeting with the Director of HR to talk about her career aspirations.
The programme is generating a pipeline of fantastic women across our businesses positioning them for leadership roles. In years to come we hope to look back and see how this programme played a little part in the journey of getting them to wherever they want to be.
If you’re interested in a career in the NDA visit our website. For more information on how we are promoting inclusion across the NDA group you can read our inclusion strategy and for more information on WIG visit the Whitehall & Industry Group (WIG).
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