LLWR site: Environmental Safety Case and Permit Approval
Details the work involved in producing our Environmental Safety Case and its role in securing Permit approval for the LLWR Site.
LLWR’s application to vary its Environmental Permit to allow continued disposal of radioactive waste at the Repository was submitted in October 2013. The application was supported by an Environmental Safety Case (ESC) submitted in May 2011.
The objective of the ESC is to demonstrate to the Environment Agency and other stakeholders that it is safe to continue to dispose of LLW at the Repository.
This document:
- Involved more than 80 technical experts in its production
- Took 85 man years of work to develop
- Comprised 2,000 pages and was made up of 17 reports and a non-technical summary
- Included a further 100 underpinning reports making up another 10,000 pages
Among issues examined in detail were:
- Geology
- Hydrogeology
- Waste characterisation
- Waste processing
- Engineering of the waste vaults
- Potential radiological impacts
- Coastal erosion
- Engagement with stakeholders
The Environment Agency completed a detailed review of the 2011 Safety Case and consulted on the permit application and subsequent draft decision which resulted in the Environment Agency granting a revised permit.
On 1 November 2015, the revised permit became effective, achieving a key objective of the NDA when awarding the new contract for managing LLWR in 2008.
LLWR’s Environmental Permit requires us to submit an updated ESC to the Environment Agency by 3 May 2021.