Case Study 5. National Waste Programme and Waste Services
Updated 3 June 2021
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LLWR’s National Waste Programme was born out of dire need in the nuclear sector. Expertise was brought in from the USA’s national Tru-Waste Programme to supplement UK expertise and create the NWP.
In 2009, 95% of low level waste (LLW) was being disposed of at the Repository with only 5% diverted. A change in direction was required if capacity issues that would reverberate across the industry were to be averted. The required policy change came in 2011 with the launch of the National Waste Programme (NWP). The NWP leads the implementation of changes in management practices and culture needed to deliver the UK Strategy for the management of solid LLW on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
The Strategy provides a high-level framework governing the management of LLW and has three guiding themes: application of the Waste Hierarchy; best use of existing LLW management assets; the need for new fit-for-purpose waste management routes.
The NWP includes all nuclear industry waste producers, the supply chain, regulators, local and national government, NDA, LLWR and its National Programme Office, which leads and coordinates delivery, on behalf of NDA.
Through the Programme, participants work collaboratively to deliver the safe, secure, environmentally responsible and cost-effective treatment and disposal of LLW in the UK, sharing information on good practice across the industry, including methods for LLW producers to utilise to optimise their waste management arrangements.
Access to waste management routes is facilitated by LLWR’s Waste Management Services on behalf of waste producers.
Since 2008, when super-compaction, Packaging and Very Low Level Waste Disposal were the services on offer, LLWR’s capability has increased greatly and it now offers a combination of 10 alternative treatment, enabling, or disposal services, the majority of which are provided through the supply chain.
The results? A rapid increase in service volumes, rocketing by 30% in each financial year between April 2017 to March 2020, as decommissioning activity increases across the UK nuclear industry. The UK’s low level waste diversion figure now stands at around 98%, highlighting the stunning impact of the NWP over the past decade.