AWE failure on radioactive storage missive
Nuclear watchdog missive not met
AWE Aldermaston could be subject to further enforcement action by a nuclear watchdog, after failing to meet medium and long term safety requirements for the storage of intermediate level radioactive waste.
The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), based at Aldermaston and Burghfield, where the UK's nuclear deterrent, Trident, is manufactured and maintained, was issued with a licence instrument in 2007, by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), relating to the medium and long term management of intermediate level waste, stored at AWE Aldermaston.
The licence required AWE to reduce in volume and encapsulate 1,000 drums of intermediate level radioactive waste at the company's Aldermaston site, however the licence expired on February 20 last year (2104) without its requirements being met, prompting an ONR investigation.
In a recent (April 13) statement, the ONR confirmed it had concluded its investigation, after being satisfied that - in the short-term - the current conditions for storing the radioactive waste were acceptable and did not give rise to significant risk to the public, or AWE's workforce.
The ONR was not seeking any prosecution of AWE for failing to meet the requirements of the licence instrument, but confirmed further enforcement action to reduce the radioactive waste was a possibility.
AWE had since improved its arrangements for storing untreated intermediate level radioactive waste, and continued to make progress in developing its long term radioactive waste treatment and storage strategy.
In a recent (April 13) statement, AWE said it welcomed the ONR's conclusion and continued:
"The ONR has acknowledged our improved arrangements for storing untreated intermediate level waste, and we will work closely with them in developing our long-term waste treatment and storage strategy.
AWE continues to work closely with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and other organisations that hold nuclear site licences similar to ours, to find a long-term UK wide solution for this waste."
Items disposed of as intermediate-level nuclear wastes might include used filters, steel components from within the nuclear reactor and some effluents from reprocessing.