A major milestone has been reached at Cumbria’s Low Level Waste Repository.
Around 200 trains carrying over 175,000 tonnes of aggregate will travel to the site at Drigg from now until September as part of the project which will see the final capping of legacy disposal trenches and vaults to permanently dispose of radioactive waste safely.
Nuclear Waste Services, which manages the disposal of the UK’s low level radioactive waste, is carrying out the Southern Trench Interim Membrane project.
The project sees the protective membrane over the southern part of the legacy waste disposal trenches at the repository site replaced.
It needs to be done before capping of the northern trenches. The membrane, or liner, will remain in place for up to 100 years.
The aggregate materials are being stockpiled ready for use in STIM and the construction of the final engineered cap.
To date, by using 161 trains instead of lorries, 7,037 lorry journeys and 914,781 road miles have been avoided, reducing traffic and minimising disruption for the local community.
Christine Bradley, interim head of repository site project delivery, said: “The restart of the rail deliveries marks the next phase of the STIM project and builds on the strong safety and delivery performance and successes achieved during previous rail campaigns.
“This is an example of a shared commitment to coordinated delivery and close collaboration between our delivery partners NWS, NTS, GRAHAM, SLR and Breedon’s Quarry.
“I’m really looking forward to another great year of making safe progress, hitting delivery milestones and quality standards, and getting that bit closer to successfully capping the repository.”
Over the four-year contract, a total of 280,000 tonnes of aggregate will be delivered to the repository – a huge logistical achievement made possible through close collaboration with GRAHAM, specialist transport provider Nuclear Transport Solutions and SLR, formerly Wardell Armstrong.
